Savior
by Gwendolyn Rogan
Summary: KOTOR III: She saved the galaxy from itself and thought her crusade against evil was over. Before long, however, the Exile happens upon a more fearsome creature as the galaxy's remaining Sith begin to leave known space and whispers of Revan reach her ears
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own Star Wars. I will, however, take credit for my version of the Exile (here named Maiali Tal)—you know, all those things that are outside the scope of the game. And the plot. And anything, again, that is outside the scope of the game. But that's it. Except for my version of the True Sith. I claim those rights, too. I've been working on them for a long time and would like to keep some of those ideas for my own._

A/N: So, this is Part One of an ambitious three part series I plan on writing. And, yes, it's yet another after-the-game-ends story that's being thrown in to the gamut with the rest of them, but I stumbled over a very demanding plot and character a while ago (years now, I think; Maia and my idea of the True Sith have been around forever…) and even when I put it aside to make way for college, humor, and a different fanfic universe, it sort of niggled at the back of my mind like a word you can't remember. So here I go, back to basics: Star Wars dramatics. I hope there are people out there who enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed thinking it up over the years.

--

**Savior**

_What are we made of?  
__Are we the forsaken few?  
_– _Ima Robot_

Prologue

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't see.

Everything hurt.

She coughed trying to force air into her lungs. Instead, she choked on something warm and sticky. It filled her nose, throat, and mouth. It trickled from her ears. Blood. When she could finally open her eyes it was all she could see.

She was choking, able to push air out but unable to take any in. She wheezed; she moved her head from side to side. The slightest movement was agony.

Another struggled breath; and through the blood, she found oxygen. She gulped it in, greedy for it, unable to get enough. It was done. Finally, it was done.

Maia rolled onto her side, vomiting blood and breathing life. She was sure she could feel herself getting stronger. The Force was calling to her, washing her in soothing waves, giving her the will to keep living. But when she put weight on her sword arm to stand, white pain crashed through the muscles and ligaments; the limb wouldn't support her. She collapsed and curled around it, cringing, breathing.

Taking in a shaky, gasping breath, Maia opened her eyes again. Kreia lay dead barely ten feet from her, little more now than a pile of robes. She saw the fate of her friends flash before her eyes, ghostly impressions burned into her retina, their lives unfolding in front of her, just as she said they would. Their happiness. Their despair. And she was absent from them all.

Her heart pounded in her chest, in her ears.

The months since her return to Republic space began to reel through her mind, a dissonance of laughter and screaming; of playing games and fighting foes. She had surrounded herself with people, something she hadn't done since the end of the Mandalorian Wars. Not people, friends. True friends; friends who wouldn't leave her behind. She had to believe it—she had forced herself to believe it—otherwise she wouldn't have been able to go on. It wasn't her future she was fighting for, but theirs. Finally, after so many years, she could call herself Jedi and know it was truth.

Maia gasped, blood gurgling in her throat and she knew that she was dying. The Force wasn't there to heal her; it was there to welcome her to eternity and take her up in its embrace. She welcomed it.

Fierce battle cries echoed through her mind, now, as did the anguish of knowing she was the last of a dying breed. Her apprentice had too much left to learn and she feared letting him loose on the galaxy with only a fledging understanding of the powers he possessed. But what could she do? Life was coming to an end, her every breath a terrible effort as if there was a leak somewhere in the system.

She feared what enticements the galaxy would hold now that no one was left to teach him, the Council dead. After all of her efforts to rally them and to save them, they were dead, struck down while she had been rendered dumb, mute, and blind by a woman she called Master. It was the first time Maia had felt rage; true, intolerable, intoxicating rage. The first time she had considered the power offered by the dark side. She could have struck Kreia down right there on Dantooine if she had only given in. She could have avoided this whole mess, if she had only given in…

She suddenly understood everything Revan told her a decade ago; she felt that sweet temptation and heard those nothings whispered in her ear. But unlike her beloved leader, she was also able to see the half-truths and false pretenses. Before long, the very thought of the dark side made her sick to her stomach, its promises too saccharine to hold any real lure, and she knew the only way to defeat her enemy was to stay true to everything she believed in. She was Jedi; crusader and champion.

And look where that had gotten her, she thought with a bitter laugh that only made her choke. Barely alive and abandoned in the core of a planet she had destroyed. It was a fitting end; one that would inspire any number of tragedies. One dies. Everyone dies. Ten thousand people die. She had known those years ago when she watched both allies and enemies perish that she would find a grave in the cemetery she had created, she just didn't know it would come this slowly or this soon.

Maia tried to stand again, not willing to give in to giving up. Not yet, though maybe soon. This time not only her arm failed her, but her shoulder and every muscle in her back refused to help her stand. She didn't feel whole, nor did the muscles that made up her torso. They had been cut into a million tiny pieces, each cell crying out in agony, setting her skin ablaze with pain.

She wished for Dantooine. Not the dying planet she left a week ago, but the thriving grasslands of her childhood where she could listen to every ebb and flow of the Force. It sang to her in those days, its melody so sweet she wanted to share it with everyone she came in contact with. A young girl who called herself Revan had listened adamantly, loving Maia, joining Maia. And though Maia was little more than an average student, she sometimes wondered if she had inspired Revan to her greatness, if their songs had created a great symphony that moved all who heard it. Had she been rewarded, then, come the Wars with her commission and her command at such a young age? Barely more than a Padawan, Maia knew she should have stayed behind, but her friend had called to her in a dream and Maia couldn't help but follow.

And there among the soldiers she learned and grew and hardened. She commanded an army. She became the thing Mandalorians feared. But as those around her fell, she somehow remained a beacon of light, shutting out the Force when she ordered the deaths of thousands rather than succumbing to the dark side cacophony that sang in her ear.

She vomited again, amazed at the size of the blood pool she was lying in. It couldn't all possibly be hers. Some of it had to be Kreia's, though she couldn't see the stream that should have been there. That had to be there. Her breath caught.

Maia's heart had cried day Revan went where she couldn't follow. Physically, yes, she could have gone, but what use would it have been? The song had already left her and all she wanted to do was forget the Force and forget what she had been and what she had done. She learned to forget her schooling, to forget her name, and before she knew it, she was ten years older and back in Republic space. The Smugglers' Moon and many planets like it had shielded her during the years she spent forgetting and by the time she heard the whispers of Revan's return, her friend had disappeared again.

_Maia, she heard Revan say. Maia, look at what I found._

_It was a kath pup, small and mewling for its mother, its eyes still closed. Revan cradled it in her hands, already sinewy and strong though she was hardly more than twelve, petting it and whispering Force song in its ear._

_You should put him back, Rae, Maia said. His mum is gonna come look for him._

_I killed her, Revan replied, thinking nothing of it. Maia, on the other hand, felt a stab of pain deep in her core._

_What?_

_Alek and I were out in the prairie and she attacked us. Revan shrugged. I found him in a nearby cave. _

_The masters won't let you keep him._

_I know, but he'll have a chance at life even if it's in a zoo. We all deserve that, don't we? His mother chose her fate, but that doesn't mean he has to suffer because of it._

Tears welled in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks, loosening the dried blood and quickening the flowing; the salt stung her skin and the mucus made her already labored breathing even more difficult, but she couldn't stop. The blood in her throat prevented her from sobbing and no matter how much she retched up there seemed an endless supply to replace it.

The world shook as she blinked once. Twice. The ghost images returned and all she could hear was the faint echo of rock falling around her. It was as if someone was watching a holovid on the far side of an apartment, three walls separating her and the screen. She blinked again, the ghosts still there, though somehow more solid. Atton. Mical.

The now dusty air was even more difficult to take in, her lungs gurgling with each inhalation, her breath hitching on the blood. Maia hardly had the energy to remain conscious and she only opened her eyes when she felt arms around her body, lifting her from the hard stone that was supposed to be her grave.

"Don't die on me now, Maia," she heard him say, though his voice seemed far away. "You owe me money."

She wheezed trying to say his name. Atton.

"Don't talk. You're cut up pretty bad," he said, holding her tighter than necessary. She welcomed the security he offered.

Mical appeared in her peripheral and she was vaguely aware of the pressure applied to her throat as he tried to stop the bleeding, breathing somehow easier as he tended to her. Ignoring her student, Maia lifted a hand to touch Atton's cheek, leaving a substantial amount of blood on his already dirty skin. The edges of her vision began to darken as she watched the blood streak down his neck to pool in the shallow of his clavicle. Had there really been that much on her fingers?

All attempts to lift her arm again failed. Her vision hazed over grey.

"Stay with me, honey," Atton said as her head flopped backwards, her neck no longer able to support its weight. Everything was moving in slow motion. "We're almost there."

She wasn't aware they were moving, let alone running. Were she mindful of anything other than Atton, she would see the great stone cliffs crumbling behind them, Mical and Atton barely able to stay a step ahead of the falling debris. Maia lent them her strength, her life no longer important if it meant her friends left this planet safe and alive. They had lives to live, lives she wasn't a part of. Before the confrontation, she had seen their smiling faces. She had heard them laugh and felt their joy despite the terrible day that would follow.

She had felt his lips on hers after so many months of denying him; the feel of his skin.

It was everything she ever needed.

Every breath was a fight as the familiar smell of the _Hawk_ reached her nose. And with every breath she drowned a little more as a small part of her brain heard Atton command someone to get this bird in the air, god damn it. The world rocked again before she was placed on something soft and strapped in tightly, the cold metal restraints biting into her burning skin. She tried to groan and only gagged. Where was it all coming from?

The Force touched her mind and washed through her veins. She felt someone rip open her shirt and shove a tube down her throat. Electricity coursed through her every fiber. Her heart thumped to life.

"We have to get her to Coruscant asap," someone said.

"Onderon is closer," someone else said.

"Honestly," said a third, female, "I don't think it's gonna matter where we bring her. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Shut up, Mira."

Silence.

Maia opened her eyes, only vaguely aware that she wasn't breathing on her own. Everything felt strange, numb. It was as if her feet were three parsecs from her head and at the same time as if she had no torso separating them at all. Her only consolation was that every breath was silent and easy.

Something moved at the very edge of her vision.

"You're safe now, Maia. That old witch is dead."

Atton.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

The _Hawk_ hummed around her.

It was so _alive._


	2. One

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this! It really makes my job easier knowing what people like (and dislike) about my stories. As for the length issue, most of the chapters are longer than the prologue, at least by a little bit. Coming from a "training" in short stories, I tend to be super precise and tight with my wording, if that makes sense, considering that in short stories every word has a purpose and at the beginning of this thing I'm just getting used to the novel style again (which allows for tangents more easily), so hang in there with me. Anyway: on to the next. Thanks again!

--

Chapter One

_Two Months Later…_

"You ready?"

She sighed. "No."

"I don't know if you have much of a choice," he said. "You kinda have to let these things happen."

"I know."

Maia looked at Atton and frowned.

"Because, you know, if we just go shooting past Alderaan, I have no idea where we'll drop. Maybe in a star. That would be a fun surprise. Here we go." He glanced at her before reaching for a lever near the top of the control panel and easing it slowly down. The star streaks outside the cockpit viewport gave a good jerk as the _Hawk_ rattled and groaned before deciding to comply and return to sublight speeds. Maia let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"It's always something, isn't it? Maybe we should fly her up to a trash compactor and see if it doesn't scare her into behaving." Maia's voice was still rough from the injuries she had received on Malachor V. In the first month after having her throat slit, she went from being unable to say anything to speaking just above a whisper. Even now, her voice was barely half its normal volume and the doctors had warned her that it might never be the same, despite her surgery. Atton told her it just made everything she said sound gravely important. Nothing to worry about. She rubbed at the scar over her larynx and swallowed as though it would make a difference. "Of course, it doesn't help when you decide to drop inside the planet's gravity well. Even a child knows it's not a good idea." Alderaan filled the viewport.

"Hey, you're the one who told me to get you as close as possible."

"Within reason, Atton." She straightened from where she was leaning over his chair. He also told her that whenever she said his name something else came to mind; he wouldn't specify what.

"This is reasonable," he said with an encompassing gesture. "So the ship might have been ripped to smithereens had I dropped two seconds too late. Big deal. Look on the bright side, honey, it didn't happen and the scanners aren't going to pick us up this close to the ground. C'mon, say it. I'm good."

Maia's nostrils flared slightly. "Well, you're not bad…"

"Close enough."

Atton flashed a smile over his shoulder. Something clipped the exterior of the viewport.

"What was that?" Maia leaned back over him to look outside, but nothing was there. _Ping-ping-smash_ echoed down the hallway behind them as something else hit the outer hull.

"Probably just some space junk. Nothing to worry about." Atton didn't sound convinced.

"Just get us on the ground," she said. "And be mindful of the Mandies. We're here to check up on what they're doing, not land in the middle of their camp. It isn't terribly subtle."

"Bao-Dur was flying that time, not me. And we're landing on the day side, which means we get the added bonus of being able to see. Pure pazaak, darlin'. I'll get you on the ground in one piece." As he said it, flames licked the exterior of the viewports, blocking their view. The _Hawk_ jerked and screamed as metal scraped on metal.

"Nice, laserbrains. That sounded like a piece of the hull. Nothing to worry about, eh?" Maia reached for a panic grip above her head, thanking whoever had installed it.

"It's not a breach." He tapped a screen.

"Even so, we're probably leaving a nice re-entry tail. That won't alert anyone to our presence. Lessen the angle, won't you?" She shoved a piece of dark brown hair behind an ear. It was longer than she normally kept it—past her shoulders—and the curls had a tendency to fall in her eyes, which didn't bode well when she needed them for seeing, like now. If she was going to die in a pile of smoldering metal, she would rather see it coming than not.

"The ship's not responding…"

"If you kill me, Atton Rand, you're not going to—"

Mical chose that moment to enter the cockpit, cutting Maia off with a grunt as he slid into the bulkhead. Distracted as she was with the ship, she hadn't noticed his approach and when she did finally turn to look at him, he was bracing himself against the wall as the _Hawk_ dropped some fifty feet.

"Is he crashing again?" he asked with a gesture of his chin.

"No," was Atton's answer. "It's windy."

"It must be one hell of a headwind," Mical replied.

Maia looked at her Padawan. "It happens when you're falling out of the sky."

"I'm _not_ crashing," Atton said; his knuckles were white from trying to stabilize the ship. "Though, I would advise you two to strap in. Someone might want to tell the rest of the crew, too."

Before moving to take a seat, Maia tapped the comm unit in her ear. "Hey guys, Atton's trying to kill us again so it might behoove you to start making peace with your gods. And…well, you should probably find some crash-webbing in case they decide to grant us a miracle."

Atton glared at her over his shoulder.

"Thanks for that. Your confidence is overwhelming," he said once the comm was silent. The _Hawk_ leapt up twenty feet and then fell another thirty, which momentarily overrode the ship's artificial gravity. When it caught back up, Maia's shoulder wrenched in its socket as she slammed into the wall. An alarm went off; the ground came rushing up to greet them.

"_Altitude… Altitude… Altitude…_"

"You do have something of a track record," she said with too much nonchalance as she reached for the co-pilot chair. Gripping the back, Maia sat with about as much grace as a bull rancor and pulled the crash-webbing over her head. "In case we die…"

"We're not gonna die."

"Well, in case we do…"

"We won't."

Maia could make out individual patches of wild flowers.

"Atton…"

"Yes?" he said through gritted teeth. Pulling back on the controls and leaning his entire body into it, Atton finally got the _Hawk_ to respond. And not a moment too soon; the engines scraped the ground in the sudden change of direction that sent them skimming over the top of the grassland rather than straight for it, leaving a trail of fire behind them

"Don't destroy my ship."

He risked a glance at her now that he had things under control and missed the prairie in front of them give way to a wide river and the dirt cliff that loomed over the far side. Swearing, Maia typed in an override code and grabbed for her own set of controls to make up for Atton's inattention, forcing the ship into another turn any lesser vehicle wouldn't have been able to handle. The _Hawk_ shuddered as her port side ground into the embankment. "And try to keep your eyes on where you're going."

He scowled and took back the ship. It didn't take long to steady the _Hawk_ and when he finally got it under control he began flipping switches to his right, their speed decreasing. Maia allowed herself to breathe. Maybe he would actually put them down safely.

"She was just throwing a bit of a tantrum," Atton said with a shrug. They were still flying rather rapidly over the river, their wake flooding the low bank. A herd of nerf and their young wrangler were forced to flee their path and Maia lifted a hand in apology even though there was no way the boy would have seen it.

"At least let other people keep their lives, please."

Atton didn't answer right away. When he did, all he could say was, "Oh no."

Maia shot him a look. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Oh, frack," he muttered.

"Okay, that's worse."

"You're strapped in, right?" He glanced at her again just as the portside mandible slammed into the water and shrieked as hull met solid stone. Then the world went to pieces around them. Several loose items in the cockpit flew past Maia's head, one of them clipping her ear, another hitting the back of her chair with a _thump_. She gasped as her restraints forced the air from her lungs and bruised her ribs.

They rotated and flipped once end over end, alarms ringing, things crashing, Atton swearing as he continued to grip the controls. At one point, Maia thought she saw the sensory disk go flying across the plain in a split-second of clarity before they hit the cliff and came to a screeching halt, dirt rained down from above and burying part of the ship.

"_Altitude… Altitude… Altitude…_"

Nobody in the cockpit spoke—or for that matter moved—until Maia parted her curtain of hair to stare down Atton.

"Nothing to worry about?" she repeated. "I had still better have a hull."

Atton turned to look at her. "I've revised that statement to _something_ to worry about."

"Gee, thanks." She removed her restraints and stood up, albeit on shaky legs. The cockpit was dark except for a few blinking lights and it took Maia until that moment to realize they weren't upside down, only slanted to one side. That, at least, was something to celebrate. "You," she pointed at Atton. "are coming with me to see what you've done to my ship. Mical, I need you to stay here and see if you can't figure out where the hell the admiral put us down."

Maia stalked out of the cockpit and waylaid questions from Mira and Bao-Dur with, "Just find something to do that doesn't involve me," while Atton followed several meters behind without any of his usual comments. The crash really wasn't his fault but he had discovered some time ago—long before he had met Maia—that it wasn't wise to upset a Jedi ally. Though she held different principles than Revan and his other Sith masters, he tended to apply it across the board to all Force-users, Mical excluded. It had gotten him this far in life, so he figured it was working.

Her soft-soled boots made no sound as she led him to the top hatch, her hazel eyes flashing in the dim light whenever she looked back at him. By the time he rounded the final corner she had disappeared up the ladder and was on the hull before he reached the first rung. When he finally made it outside, Maia was leaning precariously over the starboard edge, her hands supported on her knees.

"It looks like we might have run into a small meteor cloud up there," she said as he approached. "The hull has a few new pock marks and a nice gash." She didn't say anything about the missing sensors and antennae or the fact that a large section of the outer hull had been destroyed. The underlying structure, though, seemed to be intact. "That's what caught during reentry. Check it out."

In order to point, Maia removed one of her hands from where it supported her weight, which was enough to tip the odds in gravity's favor.

"Whoa there, sister," Atton said, grabbing her around the waist before she could pitch over the edge and in to the river. He pulled Maia against him so he wouldn't go tumbling with her and chuckled at her wide-eyed surprise, her hands coming to a rest on his chest. They stared at each other for a moment, the touch of a smile crossing Maia's lips. Atton smiled back. Her ability to rein in her anger really surprised him sometimes.

"Hullo?" came a voice from the low bank. "Hullo? Are you all right up there?"

Atton made a face Maia didn't see as she broke out of his grip to answer the call. It was the boy they had nearly run down. He smiled when he saw her.

"Sorry about almost landing on you," Maia said, straining her voice to speak louder. "I hope we didn't scare off too many of your nerf."

"Naw, my brothers will be able to wrangle in the ones who think they're smart enough to get away." He scratched his head and gestured at the ship with his other hand. "You all right? We don't see many crashes like that 'round here that the people just get up and walk away from."

Maia smiled. "We're a hardy bunch and she's a lot tougher than she looks." She held up a finger. "Hold on, let me get down off this ship so we don't have to shout."

Crouching, she dropped over the side and used the Force only when she neared the end of her jump so she wouldn't slam into the solid rock riverbed. Still, she created a fairly good splash that soaked most of her clothing. Atton's comment was lost to the wind, though Maia did turn to look at him with a shake of her head.

Trudging through the knee deep water, she wrung out her hair, soaking what little clothing that had managed to stay dry, thankful her boots were waterproof. The boy, as it turned out, was nearly an adult and had the look of someone who spent more time outside than in. Shielding his eyes, he gave her a thoughtful frown.

"What are you, some kind of a Jedi?"

She shrugged. "Maiali Tal."

"Seriously?" he asked. Maia lifted her brow. "A Jedi?"

"Seriously." Apparently, he hadn't noticed the lightsaber sheathed to the back of her belt.

"Wow…" He started to shift through a small satchel. Maia glanced at Atton who was still on top of the _Hawk_. "My name's Torne Jais. Ferrl and Kiran will want to hear about you. They're two of my brothers. Pa used to tell us stories about Jedi when we were kids."

"Ah," Maia started, looking back at Torne. "Maybe you should just let them be. I really don't want to cause much of a scene." For being an adolescent, Torne certainly knew how to give a good withering stare. "Much more of a scene, I mean. We're here looking for some mercs we heard were in the area and other than my pilot's fantastic display, we don't really need them knowing about us right away. They haven't been bothering you, have they? They can be right nasty sometimes."

"No, they're around," Torne said. "A couple of 'em have been hassling my father. They're big brutes."

"Yeah, they have that tendency," she scratched her throat and heard someone approach from behind.

"Who's your friend?" Atton said. He was standing at his full height, his chin tilted just so, something, Maia noticed, that only happened when she was talking to a man he didn't know. Or Mical. He really didn't like her Padawan.

"This is Torne. He knows were the Mandies are."

"Kind of," Torne said. Maia gave him a smile.

"He kind of knows were the Mandies are."

"That's good to hear. Could you lead us to their camp, kid?" Atton made a show of checking the lock on his holster and Maia kindly elbowed him. It wasn't subtle. Torne watched them with a furrowed brow.

"You should talk to Ferrl. He was brought to their camp. Something about their leader looking for pada—er… Paddywin? He's back at the ranch."

"Padawan," Maia said. "Damn. Excuse me." She turned away from Torne and gave Atton a rather significant look as she touched the comm in her ear. "Mical?"

"Yes?"

"Atton and I are going to check out a lead. We met a boy out here who's going to take us back to his family's ranch."

"I am?" Torne said.

Maia looked over her shoulder at the boy but continued speaking into the comm. "Bao, you there?"

"I'm here, General."

"Good. You three should probably start working on the ship until you can get her up and running. We'll need to bring her to Aldera before leaving. I'll send you our location once we get there." Maia tapped something into her datapad.

"Got it," came his response in both Maia's and Atton's ear. "And please don't do anything stupid."

"What, like take them on by myself? I learned my lesson on Bakura, thank you very much." Maia grinned at Atton. "Just get her in the air. And out of the water."

"Will do."

She turned back to Torne. "I do hope you don't mind me inviting us over. We don't have to come in if you or someone else could just point us in the right direction." She pulled a hood over her hair. It was the only moderately dry piece of clothing left. "Though, we would like to talk to your brother about his…invitation."

Torne nodded. "It's not far. Ma will be glad for the company."

Maia smiled widely "That's the best news I've heard in a long time."

--

It didn't take Torne much time to lead Atton and Maia his family's homestead. It was situated in a small valley next to the river their ship had come down in with a fenced-off yard containing hounds and four young children. Maia smiled as they approached and glanced at Atton, who didn't appear quite as amused. Children annoyed him.

Unfortunately for him, they all came rushing over the moment Torne opened the gate, hugging his legs and leaping into his arms. One of the girls stopped at Maia's feet and looked up at her.

"Are you the Jedi?" she asked. Torne had radioed ahead to tell his family about their visitors. Maia smiled and crouched.

"I'm Maia," she said. "What's your name?"

"Jaede. You have pretty hair." Jaede touched one of Maia's ringlets and giggled. "Are you here to save us?"

Maia glanced at Torne, who was frowning. "Save you from what, honey?"

"The bad guys. They want to take my brother away. I don't want him to go away again." Jaede shuffled her feet and looked at the ground. She couldn't be much older than six, the eldest of the small children and the least shy. The others were still hanging off of Torne, peeking at the newcomers from behind his legs or in his arms.

"That's why I'm here," Maia said, pushing a piece of Jaede's hair out of her eyes before standing. The little girl immediately put her hand in Maia's. "Can you take me to him? I'd like to talk to your brother about the bad guys so I can know how to help."

Jaede nodded, smiling now, and began running, pulling Maia along behind her. "He's by the barn."

Maia laughed lightly and couldn't help but continue smiling. In the months before leaving to fight with Revan, she had loved working with the younglings, their wide-eyed wonder at everything something of a deterrent to her increasing pessimism about how the Order was being run. They had reminded her of everything that was wonderful about the Force and allowed her to overlook all of the terrible things that were happening in the galaxy around her, if only for a moment. And here it was again. In the minutes it took Jaede to lead Maia to her eldest brother, she allowed herself to forget. It felt wonderful.

But when her eyes fell on the handsome young man, his strength in the Force immediately clear, Maia was brought back to reality. She straightened, still holding on to Jaede's hand, and approached Ferrl slowly.

He looked up at her from where he was crouching next to a pile of firewood and stood, placing two spilt logs on top and pushing them up against the side of the barn.

"You must be the woman everyone's talking about," Ferrl said. He sounded annoyed. "Here to save the day?"

"Here to talk to you." Maia frowned. "We're looking for the Mandalorians and you're the only one who's had any contact with them."

"I talked to the Sith, not the Mandalorians." He turned around and continued to stack wood. "They want me to join up, but you seem aware of that. Koldt's dead set on taking me on. I assume you want to know about him, too."

"Koldt?"

"Their leader." He hardly glanced at her as he went on with his chore. "Liked the sound of his own voice, so I just let him talk but didn't agree to anything, in case you're wondering."

Maia watched him for a length. Jaede was still holding on to her hand and was swinging it back and forth, completely lost in her own thoughts and apparently not paying attention to the conversation. Maia had her doubts, though, considering what the little girl had already told her. After another moment, Maia went on.

"Did he say anything else?" She highly doubted a recruiting Sith would leave a potential apprentice so nicely alone. Most were more brutal than that.

"He told me that he would come back tomorrow and allow the Mandalorians to raid our home if I didn't agree to go with him. It was a pretty convincing argument." Ferrl stopped when the last piece of wood was stacked. Turning, he wiped a hand over his forehead.

"I guess it's a good thing we're here, then."

"It's a strange coincidence, yes," he said.

"The Force works in mysterious ways."

"Though I don't know if we need the saving," Ferrl said, ignoring her. "We get along fine on our own."

Maia pressed her lips together and stopped herself from saying the first thing that came to mind. It would only spark an argument she didn't want to get in to. Instead, she went on to say, "Sith don't keep their word, Ferrl. This Koldt would probably have your family killed whether or not you joined. He wants you angry."

Ferrl didn't respond. Maia didn't know if it was a good thing or not and after a length of silence, she said. "Maybe I should go speak with your mother. I dislike intruding like this."

"From what I hear, it's what Jedi do best." He looked her up and down. "She's in the house."

"Thank you," Maia said with a nod before turning around. Atton and Torne were standing some ten feet behind her.

"What was that about?" Atton asked as she approached. Maia shrugged.

"He seems resigned to give in to the Sith's threats. He's pretty hostile about it, actually." She glanced at Torne. "Do you know where the Mandies are? Your brother said they plan on showing up some time soon and I would rather find them before they come back for your family."

He shook his head. "No, but I can find out."

Maia nodded. "Take Atton with you. He's full of non-Jedi stories and might be able to ease some of the tension." She touched the boy's shoulder before turning to Jaede. "Can you take me to your mum, Jaede?"

The little girl smiled. "She's making supper. Wanna help? She lets me make cookies sometimes. Maybe she'll let me make cookies for you. Do you like cookies, Maia? I'd like to make cookies for you."

"I'd like that, too," she said as she allowed Jaede to lead her away. Jaede smiled back at her and began to run again, laughing, and Maia just hoped she would be able to save her from whatever fate the Sith had planned.


	3. Two

A/N: So the question came up a couple of times as to what Exile and Co. are doing on Alderaan and that's my fault: a section I thought was in the first chapter is actually in this one. Sorry about the confusion. Too bad I can't go back and have realized my mistake earlier. You'd think, being the author, that I would know where everything is. Hmm… Hopefully this chapter will shed a little light on that matter.

--

Chapter Two

Apparently, glad for the company meant a feast in their honor, as Maia quickly found out. She had told Torne's mother, Lyria, that treating them in such a grand way wasn't necessary, but the woman assured her that it was no trouble. The family rarely had visitors, so their presence on the homestead was a welcome treat, especially if it meant saving her son from the Sith.

"We have more food than we know what to do with, anyway," she told Maia as she wiped flour from her hands. "It's been a very good season."

Maia smiled from the large table where she sat cutting squash. The family lived in a two-story house of wood—an architecture that was rarely seen anymore. The walls were decorated in family photos, children's artwork, and detailed quilts. It was a collision of style that somehow worked.

"Thank you again," Maia said. "I really do hate intruding…"

"Don't think of it. A Jedi is always welcome despite the recent turmoil."

"You wouldn't believe how good that is to hear," Maia said with a sigh. "I've spent the better part of the last year being pursued by bounty hunters. It was unpleasant, to say the least." Maia's smile returned, though, as she reached for another squash. "My father was a farmer."

"I thought Jedi didn't know their families."

"I didn't. I was taken from my parents before my second birthday."

"You were so young!" Lyria said. "I could never imagine parting with one of my children like that." She looked at Jaede where she sat rolling little balls out of the cookie dough her mother had made for her.

Maia glanced at Lyria. "Children are taken before they're old enough to create memories. It's better if we don't form strong attachments to any particular place or the people who live there."

"It sounds terrible." Lyria looked next out a nearby window at the young men gathered around Atton. He seemed to be telling a story of grandiose heroism. Maia followed her gaze, picking Ferrl out from the crowd, the tallest of the boys, and Torne at his side, their sandy blonde hair blowing in the light breeze. The elder of the two seemed to be in a better mood now that Maia was nowhere to be seen, his dark eyes alight with laughter.

"Not all children are taken," Maia said softly. "Some are born of Jedi themselves."

"That still sounds like a family," the older woman said, watching her sons.

"It's not." Maia frowned. "Children of Jedi aren't told about their parents. None who come to an academy at that age are."

"Then how do you know about your family?" Lyria turned back to Maia, but Maia didn't look up. She was, in fact, trying to pick her words. Sharing her history was something she hadn't done in a long time—indeed, none of her friends knew about her childhood but she felt compelled to tell this woman, if only to ease Lyria's mind about her son.

At length, Maia answered. "I had a friend who enjoyed breaking rules and she got into the database one day. The masters called her too curious for her own good."

"She sounds like any child." Lyria looked at Jaede again, who was feeding dough to one of the hounds and giggling.

"No, she was a very special little girl. The smartest, the fastest, the most well-loved. She inspired us all to be our very best and we would have done anything she asked." She furrowed her brow. "According to my file, Corellia was in a terrible depression when a Jedi came to our door seeking refuge. When he left, he took me with him. My parents had seven children and could only feed three."

Lyria stopped kneading dough to look at Maia. "You don't sound convinced."

"I've been lied to so often I no longer know what truth is. All I can be sure of is that everyone who's brought to a temple or enclave at such a young age suspects their parents are Jedi. We even made up a game trying to figure who our parents might be. Rev—Raema…" But she didn't finish her sentence.

The room fell silent then except for the laughter of the little girl while the older woman studied Maia, her hands on her broad hips. Maia only resumed her cutting duties, aware of the attention and not sure what to think of it. Eventually, Lyria spoke.

"At least you didn't have the chance to love your family. I imagine your life is easier not knowing."

Maia smiled at her. "I won't let them take Ferrl, Lyria. And if you don't want me to, I won't contact my enclave, either."

"I would rather him go to a temple than stay here, now that we know," she said quietly, pushing hair across her forehead. It was the same colour as her sons'. "Come back for him when you've done whatever it is you need to do out there."

Putting the knife down and standing, Maia went to Lyria and took her well-worked hands. She enfolded them in her own callused palms and looked into the woman's eyes. "I'll send someone for him when we have a Jedi to spare."

"I would rather you train him, if it's not too much to ask."

Maia shook her head. "I would if I could, but I have…a lot to take care of." Avoiding the few remaining masters was on the top of that list; several more had recently come out of hiding and Maia wanted nothing to do with them. It was part of the reason she had agreed to help Mandalore round-up his brothers when he had informed her of the trouble they were causing, asking her if she couldn't persuade them to come to him on Dxun when she was well enough. If she was dealing with rogue Mandalorians, she could forget about the Jedi and bide her time until information about Revan reached her ears.

So far, nothing had surfaced and Maia was grateful for it. Saving the galaxy had been hard work and the month she spent lying in a hospital bed hadn't offered enough time to recover. She wanted to go to her old friend—she wanted to find the True Sith—but taking care of herself in the wake of her victory was a little more important for the time being, even if it involved saving others. She simply couldn't help herself; it came with being Jedi.

Lyria's response brought Maia out of her thoughts. "I just want what's best for him."

"I know you do. And I want to help, but this time I can't, at least not in the way you want me to. He'll make it to a temple. I'll make sure he does. And if he isn't in one by the time I've finished, I'll come back for him myself." She smiled.

Lyria wasn't happy, though, obvious by the set of her lips, but there was nothing that would change Maia's mind. She was barely able to train one Padawan, let alone taking on an apprentice who apparently wanted nothing to do with her. Patting the woman's hand, she stepped back. "I need to speak with my pilot. We have a lot to do."

Before the woman could argue, Maia turned away from her and put a hand on Jaede's golden hair in farewell. Stepping through an open door that led to the side yard, she paused only briefly before walking in the very opposite direction of Atton and his audience. She needed to think.

But Maia didn't make it very far before Atton caught up to her. He grabbed her arm to stop her. She shook him off to continue walking.

"I need to clear my head," she said without turning to look at him.

"But you're okay? You came storming out of the house like someone insulted your mother and your master."

"Please don't," she said.

Atton paused. She could feel his eyes on her back and his curiosity of what had happened in the house to put her in this mood. She wondered the same. Usually it was only a Jedi Master who got her so worked up. Not even Kreia in the height of her betrayal had affected her so.

And as she walked away, she could also feel Atton's thoughts change to the familiar reluctance in his ability to sense the swirl of emotions emanating off her; a terrible cocktail of anger, confusion, and calm. She would never tell him, though, how often he let down his guard in her presence.

_Why must he deny the Force?_ Maia glanced at him over her shoulder, hair falling into her view. He didn't seem to notice, the movement was so slight.

She didn't go far, however, before slowing and gesturing for him to follow. When he caught up, she turned her head over the opposite shoulder to look at the prairie rather than at him. She swallowed several times.

"We should go look for the Mandalorians," she said, her voice rougher than usual. She wiped her eyes with the tan sleeve of her tunic. "I want to confirm the presence of Sith."

"I think the fact that one of the boys was brought to their camp to speak to a Sith master is pretty good evidence." He continued to watch her. "Especially since he, you know, actually talked to one of them and could give him a name."

"I want to see them with my own eyes."

"You don't trust them."

"I don't trust a lot of people these days," she said quietly.

Atton frowned. "But you trust us, right, Maia?"

"Of course, but this isn't about trust."

She stopped on the far side of the gate that separated the homestead from the rest of the prairie and closed her arms over her stomach. Her eyes were on a lone tree in the distance but Atton very much doubted she was actually seeing it. And when she finally turned to look at him, her eyes were rimmed red. He lifted a hand and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. He hadn't seen her cry in a long time.

"What happened?" he asked.

A smile touched her lips that didn't make it to her eyes. "Nothing."

"This is a pretty big response to nothing."

She shrugged slightly. "A good friend I lost during the wars was brought up back in the house. Raema."

"Who?"

But she didn't elaborate. Instead, she took in a ragged breath and wiped her eyes again. "We should get looking for the camp. Did you find out where they are?"

Atton nodded. "Ferrl said they're to the east of us."

She removed her datapad from her belt and brought up a program that detected life signs. Atton just watched her, concern creasing his brow. Even he knew how bad bottling up emotions could be. And for a Jedi, well, the whole galaxy would suffer if she snapped, had history anything to say about it. He didn't say anything, though, as she tapped the screen several times and nodded.

"Yeah., that seems about right." She tucked the device back into its case. "They're only a few kilometers out."

"How far is a few?" Maia tended to have a distorted view on distances.

"Six, give or take. Buck up, Atton," she said, giving his shoulder a good slap. "You've been sitting around on the ship too much if you're worried about six klicks."

"You're not going to make me run, are you?"

She smirked. "I'm glad you agree we should be quick about it."

"What? No. No running. A leisurely pace would be preferable."

Maia seemed to think about it. "Nope. We've gotta jog it at least. There will be a feast waiting for you when you return. You can gorge yourself sick."

"Unless I die during the tenth kilometer," he muttered as she started to walk in the direction of the Mandalorian camp.

"But think about all of the wonderful things you'll miss out on if you die now." Glancing over her shoulder at him, Maia picked up the speed. "All of the places you'll never see."

Atton just sighed as he joined her some paces behind, cursing her silently with every step.

--

Even with a few breaks to check their course, it took Maia and Atton less than an hour to find the Mandalorian camp. They had approached it from an overhanging ridge were lying on their stomachs sharing a pair of macrobinoculars.

"There are a lot less than I thought there might be," Atton said, handing the binoculars back to Maia.

"What makes you say that?" she asked. "This is about the same size group we've encountered on all the other planets so far."

"Except Dxun."

"Of course except Dxun." She looked at him and rolled her eyes heavenward. "That month in the hospital really seems to have dulled your mind, Rand."

"You keep forgetting that you were the invalid, honey."

She snorted. "You sure acted like one, though."

"I was keeping you company."

"You were marking your territory."

He frowned. "Shut up."

"Good comeback." She smiled at him, though, and clipped the binoculars back to her belt. "Did you see any Sith down there?"

He looked back at the camp, shielding his eyes from the sun. "Now that you mention it, no."

"Well, they've got to be somewhere." She pressed her lips together and stood, wiping dead grass off her clothing. "I'm thinking there might be another camp somewhere nearby."

Without waiting for a response, she began to walk along the ridge, far enough away from the edge so that people down below wouldn't be able to see her. The waist high grass helped but Atton checked the charge on his blaster just in case.

They continued along the ridge for a length of time, Maia several steps ahead of Atton. Neither of them spoke. She was trailing her hands in the grass, the tall stalks brushing her palms and he remembered her once saying that Jedi drew their power from life. She claimed not to leech off of it, but Atton couldn't help but notice how her powers strengthened on planets that were overwhelmed with living things. On Dxun she was able to move faster, strike harder; on Coruscant, she recovered quickly from her extensive wounds, even for a Jedi who wasn't healing herself. And on Malachor, a planet nearly devoid of life, she had suffered. He frowned and wondered if all Jedi were the same or if she was somehow special.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Maia suddenly crouched and gestured for him to do the same. The reason for her abrupt caution wasn't obvious until the hulking frame of a Mandalorian in full armor came walking up the sloping edge of the hill they were about to descend. Atton frowned and didn't move. Maybe, if he remained absolutely still…

But Maia was one step ahead of him as usual. He saw a flash of movement from her direction just before a puff of smoke enveloped the warrior. When it cleared, he was nowhere in sight. Maia stood and walked to where he had been. Atton followed with a bit more caution.

"That's a new one," he said as he toed the Mandalorian. "Is he dead?"

"Just unconscious." She looked at him. "Invasive halothane."

"So what's this mean?"

"That there's another camp right where I thought there might be."

"You can't be that good."

She shrugged. "Okay, you caught me." Pulling out her datapad once more, she tapped the screen. "But I am right." She handed the device to Atton. "Right at the bottom of the hill. It looks like they've set up in a depression."

"So what are we going to do? You don't plan on going down there, do you?"

"Nope. There're too many of them," she pointed to the warrior at their feet, "and some dark Jedi. I know we've got the skill to deal with a few of them, but there's no way we would be able to handle them all on our lonesome." She plucked the datapad out of his hands. "Mostly because there's at least one more camp to our left. And maybe one more, but I'm not getting any definite readings."

"Damn."

"Damn is right. We should head back to the ranch and get them prepped in case this Koldt decides to show up earlier than promised. Get hold of the ship and tell Mical and Mira to meet us there. I need Bao to keep working on her."

Atton was just touching the comm in his ear when Maia stiffened. She put a finger to her lips and started to jog back the way they had come, diving to her belly when they were off the slope. Atton followed and found himself with a face full of dirt and grass when Maia reached out and pulled him to the ground next to her.

"What was tha—" but she put a hand over his mouth.

"More Mandies, probably wondering what happened to their companion."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Hope they don't notice us."

"Hey, you in the grass!"

Maia frowned and, rolling on to her back, pulled Atton on top of her, covering his mouth in a kiss just as a shadow fell over the top of them. They looked up at the same time, Atton frowning. Despite his current position, he didn't like the rouse, mostly because it was obviously just that.

The Mandalorian aimed a blaster at Maia's head.

"What are you two doing up here? The city is pretty far away."

Maia looked up the barrel of the gun. "That's kind of the point, big guy."

"Get up." He clicked off the safety.

"That might not be a good idea," Maia replied. She wrapped a leg around Atton's calf, one hand beneath his hips holding her lightsaber. Its location made him nervous.

"I don't care," the Mandalorian said, gesturing with his blaster for Atton to move. He didn't; a subtle suggestion placed in the back of his mind. "I will shoot you."

Without giving them a chance to stand, the Mandalorian squeezed the trigger. A bolt hit the ground only inches from Maia's ear.

"Next time I'm aiming to kill. Get up."

Maia shook her head. "Can't do that, sorry," she said just before returning the favor. Lifting her hand off of Atton's back, she slammed the warrior full in the face with the Force. He flew out of sight, the surprised cries of companions accompanying his flight.

Before he hit the ground, Maia was standing, Atton unceremoniously dumped next to her as she activated the blade of her weapon and deflected the bolts that came their way. Holding one hand out in front of her, Maia ripped the blasters from the Mandalorians' hands and threw them out of sight. They cursed loudly but Maia was already upon them, slashing one across the chest and stabbing the other in the gut, her blade ripping out the side of his armor as he fell.

Atton joined her.

"That was probably a mistake," she said, looking at the dead men. "I don't think we'll be able to talk this one out. At least not with the Mandalorians."

"It doesn't look like it, no."

Maia didn't answer, though, as she frowned. Turning towards a boulder near the edge of the ridge, she lifted her hand and creased her brow. Atton expected the rock to move, so was surprised when she displaced a large amount of dirt instead. Gripping one of the Mandalorians by the wrist, she suggested that he do the same as she dragged the large man through the grass and dumped him in the hole she had made. As soon as Atton put the other one next to his dead companion, Maia replaced the ground and rolled the rock on top of the crude grave, sweat on her brow.

She wiped her hands on her trousers. "That might stall them until the other two wake up. C'mon, let's get back to the ranch."

"What'll we tell them?"

"Only that they're probably coming sooner than planned. No need to divulge. Let's hope we don't have to worry about their friends until after the feast Lyria's preparing."

She looked unsettled as they started to run across the top of the ridge, but Atton didn't say a word about it the entire way back even though he had several opportunities while they were setting up perimeter alarms.

Those were the first men she had killed since Malachor. He didn't think she needed to be reminded of the fact.

--

_Elsewhere…_

She stood on the boarding ramp of a small shuttle, her arms at her sides despite the frigid wind and snow, watching the desolation that stretched out before her. Everything was white. The sky, the ground, the ramp, her jacket. Little snowflakes stood out like diamonds on her black hair.

She wondered why he had chosen this world out of all the worlds in the galaxy even as she pulled a hood over her head and stepped into the deep snow, thankful for the height of her boots. The footsteps of her companion were disappearing quickly, but it hardly mattered. He would lead her and she would follow, be it through unbearable temperatures or impassable jungles.

He was the only thing she had left that could make her smile.


	4. Three

A/N - Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing this! Your feedback really helps me do the final edit on these chapters and add in what might be missing. And even to those of you who choose not to leave a review, it's nice knowing that people are reading what I'm putting out there, even if I don't get to hear (or read?) what you think. Thanks again!

--

Chapter Three

Maia sighed as she surveyed the surrounding prairie, leaning on the fence in front of her. Twilight was fast approaching, the sky and clouds already stained red and yellow. Nerf grazed in the near distance and a couple of Lyria's younger children were playing in the yard to her right led by Jaede. It was in all ways an idyllic summer evening except that the air buzzed with some kind of an energy not caused by the laughing children.

They had warned the family earlier of the possibility that the Sith and his army would show up tonight and had spent the afternoon preparing for an attack before sitting down to the meal Lyria had prepared for them. It had been quiet at best; fear, worry, anger nearly palpable. At one point, Atton had gotten a bad feeling and something in Maia's stomach sunk at the same time. They had exchanged glances but said nothing.

"Do you think they even know we're here?" Atton had asked her as they were helping the family clean.

"I'm sure the Mandies will know that I'm Jedi and not Sith," Maia had replied under her breath. "And unless he's an idiot, he'll figure that I'm here protecting the family. It's what we do. And not we as in Jedi, we as in the crew of the _Hawk_, and since I'm the only Jedi currently doing anything, well…"

The galaxy had turned her into some kind of a folk hero after her departure from the Coruscanti hospital that had saved her life. She had come out of nowhere to save the galaxy in its time of need before disappearing back into the darkness of space after healing from her wounds. Everyone seemed to recognize her on the rare occasion that she went into a city and they would ask for her help, her picture, or her blessing. They would ask her to mediate family disputes and for other favors she was hardly qualified for, so it was refreshing when the Jais family hadn't known her. It was even a relief when Ferrl hadn't wanted their help.

Maia liked her obscurity but, according to Atton, her face was still plastered all over the newsholos. Even the handful of people on Bakura had recognized her. She didn't like it, which was part of the reason he had subjected her to it while she was recovering.

"I almost fell in love with you," Atton had said one morning after turning off another news story on her heroism. Maia had looked at him from where she lay in her hospital bed. Lifting a hand to her throat, she covered the tube that kept her trachea open. Surgery had come with complications.

"It's a good thing you didn't," she struggled to say. She wasn't supposed to talk. "I already have a hard enough time getting rid of you."

Atton chuckled and played with the small remote. "And now it's going to be even harder."

She just lifted her brow. Talking meant not breathing and she rather liked breathing.

"I have to shield you from all of your rampant fans." He sat up straight and puffed out his chest.

Maia covered the tube. "I have Mical for that."

"Mical's a pansy. You need a real man."

"Bao-Dur's agreed to stay, then?"

Atton frowned. "Not nice, Maia."

Her breath came in a staccato—it was the closest thing she had to a laugh.

She had allowed the Republic to use her as a poster child for the length of her hospital stay, but the moment the doctors indicated she was well enough to leave their care, she checked herself out in the middle of the night and disappeared into the dark. Maia didn't like to be in the spotlight and even less being the center of attention. Maybe it was a trait left over from her exile or maybe it was from her previous reclusive life as a Jedi. Either way, only Maia knew for sure.

The Mandalorian problem had been a convenient excuse for her departure. There were more out there than Mandalore could deal with on his own and after the help she had offered his people, he was sure they would listen to her. And they had. Until today, no weapons had been drawn in her pursuit of the rogue Mandalorians; words had been enough.

But she highly doubted the Sith would listen to her, even if the Mandalorians miraculously did. Not with the boy. Ferrl was strong in the Force and Maia suspected they would go to great lengths to recruit him. It was what they did on every world they touched and the Jedi were never able to catch up to stop them. This time she would be able to save at least one.

Hopefully, she thought as she studied the sunset, they would come to her under a banner of truce. But she wasn't counting on it, especially if they found the bodies. That being the case, she had most of her crew here to help defend the family in case the Sith and Mandalorians chose to bring battle. Ferrl had reluctantly agreed to allow her to save his family from the Sith and was helping Mira prepare everyone for whatever would happen that night.

The snap of a branch brought Maia out of her thoughts with a curse. Her stint in the hospital had made her careless. Taking in a breath, her lips twitched into a smile.

"Atton," she said, not turning around.

"Maia," he returned as he drew up to her side. She could feel his heat. "I never took you for one who admired sunsets."

"I was about to say the same to you." She glanced at him. "Atton Rand, man about town, card shark, lady killer, and romantic."

"Now, I wouldn't make that leap if I were you," he said with something of a frown. "What would you say if I told you I came out here for the company, not the scenery?"

"I would call you a liar."

"How's that?"

She turned to look him over. "Because you've never considered me company."

Atton worked his jaw before speaking. He put a hand to his chest in a mocking gesture. "What?"

Her smile widened. "I've always been the view to you, Atton. Becoming company would bring me down a couple of rungs, don't you think? I mean, I would start to smell in a couple of days and you'd have to throw me out the back hatch. A view, at least, you can always enjoy."

His frown deepened. "You're making fun of me."

"Jedi don't make fun. It's forbidden."

He furrowed his brow at her. "Don't play smart with me. I'm more intelligent than I look."

"You've got that one right."

"Hey…"

This time, her smile was kind, soft even; the kind that lit up her entire face. When she laughed, the sound hitched on the scars left in her throat, the sound rough like her voice. "You're too easy, Atton."

"Easy, eh?"

Whatever he was about to do, however, went undone as Mical and Mira approached from the farmhouse. Maia could feel Atton's disappointment and was sure Mical could as well. His face was too easy to read; she would have to fix that.

"I never thought you one to enjoy a sunset, Atton," Mira said.

"Why does everyone think that's why I'm out here?"

Mical and Mira exchanged a look. Atton frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, fine. Whatever. I'm obviously in the minority here."

Maia just lifted her brow and turned to her other companions. "How's the family doing?"

"Spooked, that's for sure," Mira said. "Everyone except the little ones can fire a blaster, but I don't know how much damage they'll do against Sith."

Maia nodded slowly. "And we'll be dealing with those of the Jedi persuasion."

"Which makes our situation so much better." Mira looked back over her shoulder towards the house. Lyria was just calling her children inside and Jaede took the longest to obey, her eyes on Maia and her friends. "Do you really think they'll attack?"

"Yes," Maia said, watching the girl. "I shouldn't have killed those Mandalorians."

Atton looked at her. "They would have killed us if you hadn't killed them first."

"Yes, but I've put an entire family in harm's way."

"Maybe," Atton said.

"What makes you say that?"

"That guy." Atton pointed. A single Mandalorian had appeared on a hill to the east. They watched him walk towards the house, no companions cresting the hill behind him. Maia frowned and started in his direction.

"An emissary?" Mical asked, close behind.

"Looks that way," she replied.

Nobody spoke the rest of the way across the homestead. The Mandalorian stopped just outside the gateway while Maia stood just inside and tilted her chin to look into the visor of the much larger warrior.

"I thought you'd be taller," he said.

"I thought you'd be better equipped," she returned. His frown was obvious even through his mask. "Did your master send you?"

"Mandalorians have no master," he said. "But I suspect you know that…General."

Maia's nostrils flared. "Did the Sith send you, then?"

He nodded once. "He would prefer that you surrender. It would be easier for everyone involved."

She laughed. "He mustn't know who I am, then."

"He knows your ship."

"But he obviously doesn't know anything about me. You do, though. You also know how fruitless this meeting is considering he comes with nothing more than a demand that I submit." Maia's lips curved into a smile. The Mandalorian simply remained silent as she stared into his visor. Maybe, if she played this right, things wouldn't turn into a bloodbath. Something in the back of her mind, however, disagreed.

"I'm supposed to bring you back. He doesn't care if you're conscious," the Mandalorian said finally. Maia shook her head.

"He must be paying you a whole lot of money," she said. "There's no honor in this. You want to fight. I can sense the itch."

He snarled, but Maia went on.

"Mandalore is searching the galaxy for his brethren. He wants to rebuild the mighty Mandalorian army and banish your reputation as a bunch of money grubbing thugs from the mind of every man, woman, and child—human and non-. All are welcome; he doesn't care who you've been working for or what atrocities you've preformed for a quick buck. Leave your Sith master and return to Mandalore. He'll give you armies to command, not tasks any whelp can perform."

He remained still during her offer almost as if he was considering it, so when he suddenly clipped her across the cheek with the butt of his rifle, Maia was taken by surprise. She stepped back and put a hand on the gash his weapon had opened in her flesh, staring at the blood on her fingers and wondering why she hadn't sensed his impending attack.

"You dirty hypocrite," he said with a growl. "My entire clan was killed at Malachor. How dare you speak of rebuilding the Mandalorian army when you're the one who destroyed it? Some of my people see you as a great warrior when all you really are is a murderer. What do they call you now with only your light sword and three companions?"

Maia held up a hand to stop her friends from drawing their weapons. "Call me what you will, but know that I still have the strength I had at Malachor when you were defeated. I may not have the ships or the army I commanded then, but they aren't what really ended the war, now are they? If you choose to bring war again, then so be it, but I will be your death and you will leave this life without the glory of true battle. There will be no honor in your passing and you will have done all of your dead brothers a great shame."

He took in a deep breath and this time Maia could see it all. It was as if her vision had doubled; one Mandalorian remained still while the other brought his blaster to bear. In less time than the brain could sense, Maia's lightsaber was in her palm, the blade springing to life the moment it touched skin. And before he could even think about pulling the trigger, his weapon fell to the ground in two pieces. Cursing, he threw her a right hook, but Maia saw it coming and blocked the punch before grabbing his upper arm as she used his momentum against him, her eyes glowing in the green light of her lightsaber. Hooking her leg around his, she threw him to the ground, spun the saber in her hand and stabbed the blade down through the supine warrior's neck before he could roll away from her.

The world fell silent.

Maia took a sudden intake of air as she deactivated her blade.

"Maia," came Atton's voice from somewhere behind her. She didn't listen; she was too busy staring at the dead man.

"Maia," his voice was more insistent this time. "I think you had better pay attention to me right now, honey."

She looked up and didn't have to turn around to see what caused the panic in his voice. The dark eastern horizon was suddenly lighter with the gleaming armor of a hundred Mandalorian and Sith soldiers. Her eyes widened.

"Mira," she said, half-turning towards the woman. Her heart pounded in her chest. "Get the rest of those grenades in the ground right now."

"Yeah, boss." She didn't move.

"Get your ass moving, girl!" Maia turned to the men. "Atton and Mical…"

"It was nice knowing you, Maia," Atton said.

"Shut up."

"I mean, really. I couldn't have asked for a better view."

"Save it for later."

With a sudden smile to her companions that didn't quite fit the situation, Maia started to sprint towards the army. Four broke rank and ran to meet her, firing on their second step. She deflected the bolts back in their direction, felling two before they were halfway down the hill.

She knew she was at the disadvantage here. They could easily overpower her from their superior position on the hill, not to mention their numbers. Gritting her teeth, Maia held her free hand out in front of her and lifted one of the men. He flailed where he floated before she flung him back towards his companions, knocking several down. None got back up.

The other Mandalorian, though momentarily stunned, holstered his blaster and drew a long blade, but Maia was ready for him and held off his pressing attack. It took all of her strength to throw him off her blade and again, when he slashed towards her neck.

Five more warriors broke away from the others while the Mandalorian withdrew once more and thrust towards her belly. Maia batted his blade away easily this time and parried, too, his next attack before taking the opening he left for her and removing his head cleanly from his shoulders.

Three others were upon her before she could properly breathe. Atton killed another from where he stood with his rifle and Mical engaged the fifth. Closing her hand, she knocked two of the men into each other and thrust her lightsaber into the last before he had the sense to draw his sword. Putting her foot on his hip, she kicked him off of her blade and descended on the other two before they could get up. Blood that wasn't hers dripped from her chin.

And before any more could come for them, Maia deactivated her lightsaber and reached towards the army with both hands. A laugh rippled across the ranks until a dozen found themselves suddenly hovering in mid-air prior to being thrown down the other side of the hill. Mical paused where he was advancing towards them to give his Master a strange look. He had never seen her exert that kind of power before. Maia's chest heaved for the exertion.

At the bottom of the hill, Mira _whooped_ as she, too, joined in on the firefight that suddenly broke out around Maia and Mical. Deflecting bolt after bolt, the two Jedi worked their way up the hill, killing half a dozen more soldiers before the army suddenly turned and retreated.

"Huh," Mical said.

"My thoughts exactly," Maia replied, standing at the top of the hill. They had disappeared into the darkness. "That's not like them."

Atton joined the other two. "Where'd they go?"

"We don't know," Maia said.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

She looked at him. The three were bathed only by the blue light of Mical's lightsaber. "Don't say that. It's practically a death sentence."

"And just how many times have I gotten you killed?"

Maia snorted. "There's gotta be a—shoot."

"What?" the men said together.

The air in front of them distorted as a large group deactivated their stealth generators. Dark Jedi. Maia could feel it.

A tall man stood before them, a dark beacon in the moonless night. Ferrl had called their leader Koldt and Maia assumed this was him. He stood with his chin tilted high, radiating and basking in his own pride.

Maia wasn't sure what to expect as she watched him. Sith Lords liked talking nearly as much as they liked trying to kill her. She had known many of them in their childhood and they all considered her a terrible coward for returning to the Council to face her judgment rather than taking the power they thought was rightfully theirs. She could have been great, they taunted her. Now she was nothing.

Koldt left the others to approach her small group, one dark Jedi with him. Maia wasn't surprised.

"You're stronger than they said you were," he said. She didn't recognize him.

"I've had a lot of time to rest since killing your masters."

He chuckled and spun the hilt of his blade in his hand, silvery hair blowing in the slight breeze. He would have been handsome had deep inky scars not marred his features. "You've done me quite a favor, Jedi. I must thank you."

"That's not why you're here."

"No." He sighed. "I'm here to kill you and take the boy."

"I rather like being alive."

"I'm sure you do, but you chose the wrong boy to save. Ferrl is ours. He's already agreed to come with us and I might have left you alone if you hadn't intervened. His family would have been safe, too."

Maia shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Stupid girl." His smile twisted his face. "They'll have to die, now, and it's all your fault. I'll kill them before I kill you to make sure you feel their lives leave this world." He laughed. "There's no way I can become Koldt, Lord of the Sith with you standing in my way. The galaxy is mine. Few have the power to challenge my army and my might and once the last of the Jedi and Lady Destra are gone, my supremacy will be complete."

She frowned. After years of dealing with Sith—whether in war or in exile—Maia was getting really sick of hearing about their grandiose plans. So far, none of them had became Lord of the Sith.

Except two.

"That's not your destiny, Koldt," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I am. Your Masters looked into me and saw only their death, so what is it that you see?" A smirk crossed her lips. "Renounce the dark side and come back to the Jedi. It's the only way you'll survive the night."

"Don't feed me your Jedi propaganda," he said, blade springing to life with a _snap-hiss_. She responded in kind.

"I figured I might as well try. You know, because of this thing I call a conscience. You should get one; it does the body wonders."

"You will die tonight, little Jedi."

He gestured towards her and Maia's heart pounded in her chest when none of the dark Jedi attacked. Instead, the air shimmered once more; they had been there the entire time: all of the soldiers who had disappeared from atop the hill. Maia swallowed at the lump in her throat. There was no way they would survive this.

"Okay," Atton muttered. "Piece of cake, right?"

Maia just looked at him. "I'll see you boys in the morning."

--


	5. Four

Chapter Four

He fell in a flash of green, legs no longer attached to torso. Simple astonishment crossed the dark Jedi's grizzled features, a curse lost on his lips, as the blade of his lightsaber disappeared the moment it rolled from his hand. Maia took in a breath that rattled against the scars in her throat, raw from the exertion of fighting so many, and she looked over her shoulder to the eastern horizon where morning was just waking.

She took in another breath, studying, now, the bodies of dead Mandalorians and Sith. She watched, too, the battles of the two men who had followed her from the homestead, lost now in the dark and the distance. They had fought through the night and the tall grass and over the kilometers to these foothills, chasing Koldt as he ran and drew out the battle, though Maia couldn't say why. Nor did she care. He wouldn't take Ferrl; she couldn't let him.

She would save at least one from the maw of the dark side.

And then another dark Jedi was upon her, nearly taking her sword arm. Female, small where Maia was tall, but it only seemed to give the Sith woman an advantage. Maia felt slow, unwieldy, and was exhausted from battling across the Alderaan plain, barely able to think well enough to fight. She was just able to keep up with the smaller woman—a woman who had spent the night retreating and sending others to their deaths rather than fighting. The Sith was fresh, Maia was not, and she was forced over the crest of the hill.

But Koldt was close, so Maia allowed it. These were the men and women he had kept by his side from the beginning—the ones he would throw at her to the very last in order to save himself—and she would have to get past the woman, one way or another, to stop him before he could begin whatever campaign he was planning. He was young and egotistical, but Maia had no doubts that he could rally others to his cause if she let him win. The galaxy wouldn't be able to survive another war.

The woman dashed away from Maia, then, and barraged her with the dead bodies of Sith and Mandalorian soldiers. She was able to duck under them, though only barely, and gripped at the air as she came out of a somersault to one knee, hoping only to pull the woman off balance. It didn't work and the woman's laughter went unheard as the wind swept over them.

It had picked up some time in the night. Maia couldn't remember when.

At length, Maia stood slowly, watching the woman from across their short distance, her companions lost now over the top of the hill, their lives pulsing in the base of her skull like a tiny heart. She couldn't hear them, but they were alive. They were _so_ alive. Something in her chest swelled with joy.

The Sith woman was the first to break their silence and she ran towards Maia, her attack coming low and from the right, but Maia was able to block her, and again.

They danced. Slowly and deliberately. They kicked, they slashed, they glided, they spun. It was a beautiful macabre ballet performed only to the song of the Force, each partner hearing a different rhythm and harmony as it sang to them and encouraged them on.

_Maia_… went the blowing wind.

Blocking a high attack, she pushed at the Sith woman with her mind, the strength of her friends' lives flooding her. Still, it took far too much effort and the woman barely stumbled as a result, but it was enough to distract her. Sweeping her lightsaber down from its high guard, Maia's blade sliced through the woman's shoulder, inciting a whimpering cry from the other's lips.

But Maia didn't have time to regard her death nor did she have time to catch a breath before diving to her left, a frag grenade exploding where she had just been standing. Falling dirt and blood hissed on the blade of her weapon as she came up out of a roll, disoriented. The waist high grass made fighting difficult enough; the sweat and grime in her eyes made it somewhere near impossible. She spat and pushed herself to her feet, her legs practically screaming in protest.

Everything hurt.

Wiping at her eyes, Maia swept dirty curls out of her vision, too, and looked for the man who had thrown the grenade, unable to locate him in the pre-dawn light and tall grass that grew up the hill above her. She squinted; she didn't think to use the Force. It was still a strange thing to have back after so many years spent without its song.

But it sang to her, now, leading her to her unseen opponent, pulling her attention in the direction Koldt had gone.

There.

With little more than faith to go by, Maia pulled a vibroblade from her boot and threw it in his direction, using the Force to guide it to where she thought he was standing. It was difficult to find his location through the fatigued buzz of her mind and a clipped exclamation did little to satisfy her as she recalled the knife. It was stained with blood, but not enough to have done its victim any serious harm.

She took in a deep breath as she wiped the blade clean on her trousers, her throat sore, her patience running low. With the rising sun on the horizon the chase had officially become too long. Atton and Mical could barely keep up anymore; Maia could barely stand. Her mind was exhausted, her body was exhausted; her doctors back on Coruscant would kill her if they saw her. Hardly a month had passed since her release.

Gathering what strength she could muster, Maia took three Force propelled steps towards the ambitious young Sith who had caused her far too much trouble and met his blade with her own. They stared at each other over the sparks, taunting each other without words, their minds pushing against the other. He was the stronger of the two. Maia knew it and he certainly knew it, but she had the determination and could only hope that would win out in the end.

With a growl, she pushed against his blade, her tired muscles protesting, and he took a step back; a small victory. He bared his teeth, more angry than before.

"Just die," he said, yelling over the wind that blew around them.

"I tried that once," she replied, ignoring the hair in her eyes. "It didn't take."

"This time it will," he said, coming for her again. They crossed blades and this time when Koldt pushed, Maia stumbled backwards across the hill. She warded off another attack on unstable legs, her body unwilling to move the way she needed it to. Taking in a breath, Maia leapt over his head and turned in his direction midair, shoving at him with the Force. He went down on one knee giving Maia the chance to attack the moment her foot touched the ground. He spun, though, pushing her out of the way with the Force and sending her rolling down a short incline.

She went right over the top of at least one body before coming to a halt against another. Pushing herself to her hands and knees, the world spinning around her, something tickled the back of her mind and she jumped forward as well as she could before another grenade went off where she had just been kneeling. Rolling to her feet, Maia looked back at Koldt.

"You're going to have to try harder than that, Sith."

Koldt snarled and lifted his arm, lightning crackling in the palm of his hand. Maia had the sense to duck and lift her blade just as he advanced towards her, catching the energy there and returning with a shove of her own. It distracted him long enough to stop his attack, but not long enough for Maia to have any sort of advantage. Her addled brain just wasn't going to cooperate and she feared it would be her undoing.

He lunged for her, then, his blade an extension of his arm and she managed to parry it away, though not without leaving an opening that should have been her death. It was the first sign of his fatigue. Hours ago when they had started this battle, even a fraction of that opening would have given him the advantage he needed.

They fought through the grass, each just able to keep up with the other until he resorted to simply hacking at her blade as if hoping to break through her defense with sheer strength alone. Maia gritted her teeth and took the opportunity to draw her knife again and sink it deep into his abdomen, her sword arm shaking under his barrage. But before she could even think about withdrawing the small blade, she found herself flying backwards, followed by his howl.

It was Maia's shoulder that hit the ground first, the force of the skid tearing through clothing and skin. She grimaced and looked up in time to see him bounding after her, her knife thrown to the side and forgotten. With a grunt, she jumped to her feet and ducked under his attack to sweep his legs out from beneath him. But he was quicker. Leaping over her kick, he sliced down at her, catching her off balance as she started to stand and driving her to her knees, her every muscle shaking. The Sith's eyes glowed in triumph.

Koldt whispered, "You will die now, little girl."

He pressed down harder. Maia could smell her clothing singe under her blade and feel its heat through her underarmor. She strained her neck away from the closing swords in a futile attempt to preserve her life. It was all she had left.

And then Mical appeared in her peripheral charging towards them, his lightsaber an arc of blue as it flew through the air to aid his Master. He and Atton must have taken care of the remaining few soldiers she had left them with, although the other man was nowhere to be seen. He didn't have the stamina of his Jedi companions and often fell behind when they had the Force to give them strength and he did not.

But help was here. Finally. The Sith looked up.

"You first," she muttered, taking advantage of his indecision. Releasing herself from under the weight of his blade, Maia leaned to the side to avoid his falling weapon before plunging her lightsaber into his gut with everything she had left. The young man grunted in surprise as Maia pushed until her sword was hilt deep in his stomach and his blood was pouring over her fingers, the lightsaber unable to completely cauterize his wound.

They locked eyes for the length of an inhale and when he blinked, she tore the blade up through his ribcage and shoulder, killing him before he could even slump backwards. As he fell, Maia kicked his weapon out of reach and turned to make sure he wasn't going to get back up. Without a word to Mical, whose weapon had missed its target, she removed her thumb from the activation switch and stalked away from the body, her bloodied fingers trailing in the tall grass.

Dawn wavered red just below the horizon as the dying wind pulled at her hair, sweeping it out of her eyes and cooling the sweat on her brow. It tugged at the tunic she wore in place of armor and reminded her of home, of Dantooine, and of peace. It reminded her of why she fought. Wiping her hands and hilt clean of blood, Maia took a small flower from its tall, fragile stem and held it to her nose.

She was angry. It was an emotion Kreia had reintroduced her to in the months they had traveled together and one she tried to fight whenever she felt it swelling in her belly, like now. She was angry at the young people who had run rampant in the months since she had killed the three Sith Lords. She was angry at the men and women who went to worlds untouched by the wars to cause trouble and recruit those who hadn't fought; young men trapped on their father's farms and women still bound by their mother's apron strings. Maia hadn't wanted to kill his small army of Sith and hair-trigger Mandalorians. They were just working for the wrong man and had to be stopped.

She glanced over her shoulder. Mical and Atton were standing near the dead Lord, silent as they usually were in each other's presence, surveying the trail of carnage that led the way back to the distant homestead. Neither turned to look at her, even as she started towards them, the little red flower held lightly between her fingers.

"That's not exactly how I planned on spending the night," Atton said as she approached. He held his side but was smiling nonetheless. Other than superficial scratches, glancing burns from blaster bolts and lightsaber blades, and a few deep bruises, the two men seemed fine. Even Maia, though burned and bleeding, hadn't been dealt any life threatening blows. Not this time.

"I didn't expect to see the dawn," she said quietly. "Nor did I imagine so many had amassed here. Damn."

"It is amazing the way people still choose to follow the Sith after everything they have done to the galaxy," Mical said, shaking his head. "Because of them, the Republic is failing and worlds are dying."

Atton regarded him.

"A lot of people don't like the Republic, you do realize that, don't you? All these kids out here in the backcountry are probably dreaming about glory, so when someone comes knocking down the door with promises of riches, well, it's not like the Republic is doing anything for them."

"I don't believe it is the responsibility of the government to give these people the destiny they want. Each individual must choose his own path."

"They chose," Maia said more to herself than to anyone else. Neither man seemed to hear her.

"I'm only saying, is all," Atton went on. "But they're obviously effective however they're doing it. If I was some bored kid on a farm, I'd probably be convinced no matter who came recruiting."

"Even if it was the Sith?"

Atton frowned. "Look, buddy, don't turn this around and make it about me."

"You misunderstand me."

"Enough," Maia cut in. The men fell silent. "There's no point in arguing about what the Republic is or isn't doing right. We might have a bigger problem with Mandalorians involved in Sith business."

"Not to mention dark Jedi," Mical said.

"I don't think the Republic will be able to survive another onslaught." Maia shook her head. "All of her work will be undone."

"Whose work?" Mical looked at her, his brow furrowed, blonde hair blowing across his forehead. She hadn't told them the details of her conversation with Admiral Onasi, though she suspected they knew about Revan's attempts to keep the Republic strong even through her warring. Maia just shook her head again and pointed at the dead man.

"Search him," she told Mical. "See if he has any sort of intell. If there are more out there like him, we need to know where they are, how far they've spread, and how many Mandies they've recruited, if any. He mentioned a Destra." Maia sighed. "I think our agreement with Mandalore just got a lot more complicated."

"Do you think he knows about all this?" Atton asked.

"I haven't a clue, but I certainly hope not. I'd rather keep him as a friend," she said, looking back the direction they had come.

The trail of blood and carnage fell out of sight over a hill in the distance and Maia had a hard time believing they had fought so many and were still alive to see the sun come up. Others were also alive out there, but Maia wasn't about to go looking for them. They deserved whatever fate Alderaan chose to give them.

Torne's family had helped, too, as had the rest of her crew, but they had still been far outnumbered and she wondered now how many from the small army had remained at the ranch to try and take the family away. An earlier hail from Mira, though, had told her they were all safe and sound, the young children asleep.

In the meanwhile, Maia and her two companions had taken down one man at a time as they chased the army over the prairie—some warriors and soldiers, others dark Jedi—until Koldt was the only one left standing. They had come at Maia in two, three or four, but never more, making it easier for her to reach her target but also making the battlefield too long. This stain wouldn't lift for years.

The two men followed her gaze down the hill before Mical said something about returning to the homestead. He hadn't found anything on the body. Maia nodded, not listening, and allowed him to go. Atton held back and touched her just above the elbow.

"You look like you're thinking pretty hard about something."

She shook her head and lied, "Only about walking. It's kind of a difficult concept to get my head around right now."

Atton grinned at her and she couldn't quite help but smile back. Finding joy in the wake of the night seemed wrong somehow, but Maia had accepted long ago that moving on quickly from a battle was better than dwelling on it. She preserved life where she could, but all parties had made a decision here and she stood by her choices. It was simple, really.

"Come on, girl, one foot in front of the other. Here, watch me." He demonstrated several wobbly steps before turning around and holding out his hand. She scoffed at him, pushed it out of the way, and started down the hill by herself.

"I think you'll just do me more harm than good, seeing as you're doing such a good job of walking on your own," she said as he tripped over something in the grass, possibly his own feet.

Still, his smiled shined against the grime that caked his skin. "I meant to do that."

Maia pressed her lips together and lifted her brow in question as he wiped his hands on his trousers. According to him, nothing he ever did was an accident. Each misstep, stumble, and fall was on purpose, as was each bruise, cut, or scratch. At least when he was in Maia's presence and something didn't break. Then it was an accident, but not one caused by him. Usually he blamed it on her Padawan. Or the droid.

"Just try to make it back in one piece." She glanced at him over her shoulder. "I like you the way you are."

Atton managed to turn his stumbling into a swagger. "Once we get there, I plan on lying in bed for a very long time. You game?"

Slowing her pace to match his, Maia bumped his hand with hers and transferred the little red flower into his palm. He glanced at Mical who was out of earshot before looking at the token, a smile touching his lips. Smiling back, she gripped his pinkie with hers and held on tight, their hands hidden by the tall prairie.

"Yeah, I'm game."

"Good, because I don't have the energy for anything else, including the walk back." He glanced around. "What I could use right now is a good taxi."

"Good luck finding one out here."

"I thought this planet was supposed to be civilized," he said.

Maia kicked at a small rock. "If you hadn't destroyed my ship, we might have been able to get someone to come pick us up."

"I didn't destroy her."

"Just irreparably crippled her, right?"

He shrugged. "Six of one, honey. But I don't think you'll have to say goodbye to the old girl quite yet. If we can get her to the city we should be able to fix her up right. It might just take a while."

"Which we don't have, I might point out."

"You might." He grinned at her again. "C'mon, let's talk about something else. Like the weather."

Her laughter came as a bark, followed by coughing. "The weather?" she asked when she was able to speak again. "Who wants to talk about the weather? You're not secretly a bore, are you, Rand?"

He chuckled and tucked the little flower behind her ear. She just smiled at the ground, pushing a curl out of her face as she did so, and the two of them descended into silence as they followed Mical back to the homestead, the morning's symphony of birdsong and wind taking the place of their banter.

--

_A/N: So, I have to admit that a lot of the styling of this story is based after the Force Unleashed, the fight scenes in particular. KotOR is still abundant, obviously, but FU was so basically awesome (other than its shortcomings in the story and length departments) that I can't seem to get it out of my mind. Um, yeah. Just thought I would say that. Oh and "koldt" is Danish for "cold" in case you were curious. _

_Also, thanks to those of you who are leaving/have left reviews and constructive crits (Elwin Ransom, Banana1, Jen Declan, Spoodles, and Captain Azza). I evaluate each critique and comment seriously and they do, in the long run, really help with the editing process. Thank you, again!_


	6. Five

Chapter Five

Maia had never been to Aldera before and so didn't know what to expect. As a child, nothing on Alderaan had ever required a Jedi's helping hand, so she and her master had never traveled here; and in the long years of her exile, she had elected to remain as far away from the Republic's more civilized planets as possible. Instead, she had traveled from one backwater moon to another in an attempt to avoid contact with those she had grown up with. Places like Nar Shaddaa hardly warranted the attention of the Jedi, nor did a small-time bounty hunter who held a strange distaste for the underworld she was a part of.

During those years spent by herself, Maia had formed a bitter picture of the galaxy as a place that was rotting from the inside-out and it now put a certain dark patina over all things. Every time she had managed to bust a drug ring, three others would take its spot over night. Slave trafficking was even worse. Perhaps it was because of the training she had received in the first decades of her life, but something in the back of her mind eventually started telling her that she had to do more than take down drug lords and slave traders. Just as Revan had said in their youth, so too did Maia believe that this was her galaxy to save seeing as no one else seemed to care. She just hadn't known in those years how she would go about doing it.

The reemergence of the Sith some years later, then, had been most fortunate, especially when her ability to hear the Force again came immediately after.

So, because of her time in the underbelly of civilization and despite having seen Alderaan in a number of news-holos and knowing the type of people it cultivated, she had always imagined Aldera to be like every other spaceport in the galaxy, with few trees and buildings that were sores on the landscape rather than great pieces of architecture. She was, in fact, quite wrong.

The buildings gleamed white in the early morning air and birdsong was everywhere. Walkways were shaded in the dappled light of flowering fruit trees; canals brought the sound of water that drowned out distant traffic. It was everything Nar Shaddaa was not. And though the citizens obviously recognized her, none were so brash as to approach or ask for her favor.

Maia was smiling as they walked in silence, the pilot at her side, their knuckles brushing but nothing more. They had limped into the city after sunset the night before, the _Hawk_ barely able to propel itself forward. It was indeed a miracle they had made it into the city at all considering the short notice she had given Bao-Dur and the distance Atton had to fly the ship over the planet's surface. Maia hadn't been in the cockpit to watch how he managed it, though. Instead, she had been speaking with Mandalore. He didn't know anything about the mercenaries on Alderaan.

They weren't able to celebrate their successful arrival in the city for long, however, before being confronted by the Aldera police and threatened with a fine and imprisonment for the massive grass fire they had started and the mess they had left in the wake of their battle and crash. It would take a lot of money to clean up after them and the government wasn't terribly happy about their presence on the planet, despite Maia's fame and the assistance she rendered in saving Lyria's family.

"But paperwork takes a long time to process," the chief of police told her when they were alone in his office. "And there will be an awful lot of it after the trouble you've caused."

"Oh?" Maia said.

A smile crossed his lips.

"And there's not a whole lot anyone can do if, for some reason or another, you manage to leave the planet in the next three days before my approval on certain forms goes through. My jurisdiction only stretches so far." He steepled his fingers under his chin. "Might I add that the Republic doesn't smile upon individual planetary extradition of Jedi, especially those touted as heroes? Once you're gone, you're gone and there's not much we can do about it."

"I see."

He nodded once and waved an officer back in. "You and your friends are free to find accommodations in the city. Your bail has been posted."

Maia hadn't thanked him, considering the circumstances, and had simply allowed herself to be escorted out of the building to where her friends were already waiting for her. After relating her meeting with the chief, she sent everyone out into the city to see what they could find. The _Hawk_ was in no shape to leave the atmosphere.

"Something's on your mind," Atton said as they walked along the canal. Their companions were still elsewhere in the city. So far, things were looking grim on the repair front.

She looked at him, squinting at the question. "I'm usually the one who asks that."

"So I can't switch it up on you?"

"I'm kind of a traditionalist, what can I say?" She shrugged and looked away. "I'm just thinking about the family, is all."

Atton looked at her. "They'll be fine, Maia."

"I know, but I spent so long…" She paused before starting over. "I can't help but feel like there's more I could have done.

"More than saving them from being slaughtered?" He raised his brow and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, his fore- and middle finger holding her palm lightly. "You're thinking about the kid. He didn't want your help, sweetheart. And, far I recall, you didn't want to take on another apprentice."

Maia pressed her lips together. "I know, but the guilt of not being able to do everything in every situation comes with being Jedi." She laughed, then. "None of the masters will admit it, but it's true: guilt is the only emotion a Jedi is allowed to feel. But not really."

She smiled at him as he chuckled. "But besides that, it might have something to do with the fact that we haven't nearly the credits or resources to pay for such a massive amount of work on the _Hawk_ before being arrested. Again." She shook her head. "I don't know why you all keep hanging around me. I just manage get you into trouble wherever we go."

Atton let go of her hand as several people passed them and didn't say anything until they were out of earshot.

"Honestly," he started, "I think our lives would be real boring without you in it. That and we owe you something for saving our hides. Keeping the ship in working order seems like adequate payment, even though I haven't done a good job of that in the last couple of days." He shrugged. "And I think Mira's keeping an eye on her bounty."

"Even though the bounty's been lifted." She raised her brow.

Atton smiled as Maia looked him up and down. "Besides," she went on, "I think you're here for a little more than that."

His smile widened into a grin. "Yes, but I can't apply that reason to the other two."

"True." She stopped, then, and grabbed the back of his arm. "Say, how much do you think you would go for?"

"Excuse me?"

"Strong, well-toned, decent looking. I bet I could fetch a pretty penny for you. Maybe even enough to get us out of here."

"Ah-hah, you're not talking about what I think you are, are you? 'cause I gotta tell you, it didn't work so well the last time I tried."

She furrowed her brow and stopped pinching his arm. "You're not serious."

He grinned. "Of course not."

"I don't believe you."

"It's the truth, honey. Smuggling, gambling, womanizing, and drinking are my only vices." His smile was easy. "I promise."

"Your only vices," she repeated slowly, letting him go. "I'm pretty sure I saw your picture in a personal ad a couple years back on Nar Shaddaa."

He scratched at the stubble on his cheek. "Maybe that's why I got that memory wipe. I was always curious about the state of my apartment when I got back. The red cloth on the lamps and certain pieces of statuary should have been a dead give away."

Maia laughed and brushed the palm of his hand with the tips of her fingers. She tilted her head back to look him in the eye, still chuckling lightly; he took it as an invitation she never gave and touched her lips with a kiss. She put a hand on his stomach, the other on his arm, but broke the moment with a giggle.

"You're so beautifully awkward," he said, stroking her cheek, his fingers in her hair.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied against his lips.

"You act like you've never been kissed every time you let me in."

"I was a very good Jedi, even in my exile." The hand that gripped his shirt told otherwise. "The model of chastity."

"You're a very good liar."

"I'm a Jedi." Her kiss was as innocent as one could be, a gentle brush against his lower lip, but it caused his skin to goosepimple beneath her fingers. She was delighted and rewarded him only by stepping back. He didn't see it quite the same way, but she ignored his protests and walked to a railing that separated pedestrians from a wide canal, leaning on it. At length, he joined her.

"I really hate you," he said in her ear.

"I know."

"Really. I'm not kidding."

"You don't have to tell me. I know everything." She turned a smile on him. He responded with a frown.

"I don't know if I like that."

Her smile just grew wider as she turned back to the water to watch a small group of bathing ducks.

They stood there for a while in silence, Maia observing the city, Atton playing pazaak in his head, his fingers tracing her palm lightly. Though more and more people appeared the longer the morning wore on, little sound broke above the water and the birds. Every so often, a child would scream in delight or two hounds would bark when they passed each other.

A breeze picked up.

A warm breath touched her ear.

Atton hadn't moved.

Maia ducked, then, and spun on instinct, but her action halted when the other person grabbed her wrist.

"You're the Jedi," the taller woman said, dropping Maia's arm when it was obvious she wouldn't lash out again. Her voice was touched with the hint of a rough but lilting accent.

"Yes," Maia said slowly, surprised at how close the woman had gotten without notice. It was happening too often these days. Maia frowned and rubbed her wrist.

The other woman just took a step back and removed a pair of tinted goggles. She blinked several times as if adjusting to the bright day and shook her head once, a heavy black braid falling over one shoulder. Maia nearly gasped in surprise. The woman's eyes glowed a more vibrant red than blood, her skin cobalt blue.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Maia said after taking a moment to collect herself.

"You're looking for information," the woman replied. "And I know things." A slight smile crossed her dark lips. "My friends call me highly observant."

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Maia was sure she had never seen the woman's face before. It was one she would remember; few of the women's people wandered beyond the border of their territory.

"No, but I know who you are, Maiali Tal."

Maia's eyes widened; blast the newsholos. She didn't like people knowing who she was, especially people like this.

She immediately admonished herself. Other than the woman's eyes and skin, there was nothing out of the ordinary about her appearance. Indeed, she was dressed like every other spacer this side of the Republic in her canvas jacket, black leggings, and tall leather boots and was nothing more than what Maia had been little more than a year ago. There was something about her presence, though, that put Maia on edge.

Maybe, the back of her mind thought, it was the way she was drawn to her.

_This must be what they feel_.

Atton stepped in. "Look, sister, if you're looking to con us out of something—"

"I assure you that I have no intention of taking your money." She could look Atton straight in the eye, she was so tall. "But I know about your battle with the Sith and his Mandalorian mercs out on the prairie. Your continued existence is extraordinary."

"How do you…?" Atton furrowed his brow. "Who did you say you were?"

"I didn't say. And I know about you because I know about all sorts of things. Don't make me repeat myself."

Atton rolled his eyes to the sky. "If I've never heard a cryptic answer before…"

"You have the stink of Nar Shaddaa on you," the woman said, cutting him off, "which means you know how things tend to trickle. Eventually, everything ends up in a pool of some sort. Information is the same, even on a planet like this, and I have learned to become that pool. People talk and most don't know what they're saying because they don't know the big picture, but if you listen to enough of that talk, well, you've eventually got something to actually say. It's like a puzzle and I am very good at putting the pieces back together."

Maia studied the woman as she spoke, trying to figure out what it was that both enticed her and scared her. Something tickled the back of her mind again.

"So you're looking to sell information," Atton said.

A smile crept across the woman's lips. "I've already told you that I'm not interested in your money. I have no need for it. But I'm certainly not doing this out of the kindness of my heart."

"Then what do you want?" Maia asked.

"Off Alderaan. You have a ship that needs repairs. I have a mechanic who owes me a big favor. He can get her space worthy inside two days."

Atton crossed his arms and looked at the woman without saying a word.

"He's very good," she assured.

"You seem to know an awful lot about us," Atton said finally.

"It's not hard when you make that big of a scene. Besides, everyone knows who the general is." She nodded towards Maia.

Atton snorted.

Silence fell between them, then, and Maia glanced around the small park. The whole situation was beginning to feel strange and Maia knew it was because of the woman. She was different than anything she had ever felt in the Force. A beacon of raw energy similar to the dark side but was at the same time so far from it Maia felt dizzy whenever she tried to touch the other's mind. The woman was clearly trained, but not in any way Maia was familiar with.

"You don't have to be nervous, Maiali. There is no one here who cares about our business."

Maia gave her a hard stare. "I'm not even sure if we have any business."

A shrug. "I'm not going to force you to listen to me, but taking me up on my offer benefits us both. I can start my journey home and you can potentially stop the Sith before they're organized enough to start over."

Maia and Atton looked at each other. He was obviously reluctant about making an agreement and held her by the elbow as if hoping to haul her off to discuss things, but Maia pulled herself out of his grip. This could be the information she had been stalling to find. If this woman knew about Sith, might she know about Revan? Maia looked at her and nodded. "Okay, I'll bite. But first I need to know who you are."

"My name is Druao'zet'akuoani," the woman said without hesitation, "but have adopted the name Zeta. I find it is less of a mouthful for those who live in the Republic."

"You're Chiss," Maia said.

"Yes." Zeta's eyes widened slightly. "I'm surprised you know of us."

Maia lifted her brow. "I had a lot of time on my hands until recently."

"Fair enough."

Maia watched Zeta for a length and the other woman did the same. Atton looked between the two of them before saying, "You said you had some sort of intell?"

"Will you give me passage on your ship?"

"Yes," came Maia's hesitant answer. Zeta reminded her of Kreia, though in the same dizzying way she felt like the dark side. Maia wanted to both trust her completely and strike her down where she stood. Her fingers twitched in the direction of her concealed lightsaber.

Zeta just smiled. "You dealt the Sith a good blow on Malachor, especially after killing Nihilus first. It threw their ranks into complete disarray and each lord, apprentice, and dark knight is lost without someone to tell them where to go and what to do. The powerful are starting to prey on the weak and every single one of them is trying to take up the spot you left vacant by not filling it yourself. There must always be a Sith Lord so long as there are Sith."

Atton tensed and Maia put a hand on his forearm in an attempt to calm him. "What are you saying?"

But Atton interrupted.

"I think we just got screwed," he practically growled. "We already knew that. Everyone knows that."

Zeta's glowing eyes flashed in the sunlight when she turned to look over her shoulder. A Force maelstrom surrounded her. Maia rubbed her left temple.

"I'm saying that as they tear themselves apart from the inside-out, some are getting smart and leaving known space."

"Good riddance," Atton said.

"No, not good riddance," Zeta said with a gesture. "They're going after something. I don't know what it is and I don't know if they even know what it is, but they've picked up and gone. Think of it as the receding tide before a tsunami."

"How could you possibly know that?" Maia wasn't sure she wanted this information, not anymore.

"Because spacers talk," Zeta repeated. "Like I said, they don't know what they're saying, but they say it and they say it loud. Anyone with half a wit who spends any amount of time listening could figure it out."

"But an onslaught? You seem pretty sure they're planning something."

Zeta laughed. "Since when aren't the Sith planning something? You, Maiali, should know that better than anyone. Someone in their ranks has found something and is starting to brag about it." She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Sith are like the villains in a child's comic book. They discover something big and gloat about it in order to strike fear into the hearts of the weak all the while ignoring those who listen," she gestured at herself, "and those who can stop them," she pointed at Maia.

Atton started to say something but was stopped when Maia touched a finger to his hip. He glanced at her but she didn't look back, chewing on the inside of her lip in thought. Maia, however, didn't get the chance to speak before Zeta looked over her shoulder again. This time Maia followed the line of her gaze; there wasn't anything that would draw the woman's attention.

Zeta looked back at Maia then. "I've taken up enough of your time for now. There is something about you, Maiali. You're special. I wouldn't just do this for anyone." She slid a piece of flimsy into Maia's hand, their fingers touching briefly. "That's the mechanic's address. Get your ship there as soon as you can. I'll tell him you're coming."

She turned, then, but before she started walking, said over her shoulder, "I'll find you again before you leave. Don't come looking for me."

Her strides away from them were long and Maia and Atton just watched her go. Neither said a word until she was out of sight and then started talking at the same time. Maia ceded first.

"I don't like this, Maia."

"I'm not sure I do, either," she admitted, her voice even lower than it normally was. "But there's something about her that makes me want to trust her. I can't really explain it, but I think she might be a Jedi."

"Really? She didn't seem like any Jedi I've ever known. Light or dark."

Maia continued to watch the place Zeta had disappeared from. "I can think of a few."

Atton didn't ask for an explanation. And Maia didn't give one.

"I feel like you just made a deal with the devil," he said instead. Maia just nodded slowly without speaking.

She reached for his hand, then, and entwined her fingers in his. Neither spoke nor moved while her mind turned somersaults in the storm left behind in Zeta's wake, even as it began to dissipate. There was something there, some deep-rooted piece of knowledge she just couldn't dredge up. Something about Zeta seemed familiar though they had never met and the thought slipped out of her grip the moment she reached for it, leaving Maia with only a furrowed brow.

"Let's find the others," she said. "They should know about this."

"Yeah. Agreed."

She didn't move for a long time, however, and could feel his eyes on the side of her face in the moments before leading him away from the railing.

Hopefully, she thought, she hadn't just made another mistake by trusting someone she really shouldn't.

_Why do I keep doing this to myself?_

But Maia didn't have an answer.

--

_A/N – Ducks totally exist in the SW universe. Check Wookiepedia if you don't believe me ; )_

_Besides that, two in a week! Whew. Haven't done that in a long time; like, since the days of high school (and speaking of back then, I think my H.S. senior English teacher would kill me for using "like" in that manner…). Anyway, thanks for the reviews! It's great knowing what you all have to say/think about my version of what happens next and what I might need to improve on to make it more enjoyable or easier to understand. Every little bit of constructive criticism helps. Thanks again!_


	7. Six

_A/N – And after spoiling you last week with two chapters, y'all only get one this week. Hope you enjoy it!_

_--_

Chapter Six

As it turned out, Zeta had been telling the truth about her mechanic friend. By the evening of the second day, the _Hawk_ was repaired and ready to leave Alderaan and the authorities behind. Granted, the patches were ugly, but as Bao-Dur and Atton both confirmed, the ship was as air-tight as it had been the day it came out of the shipyard. Presumably. No one could say for sure. It certainly was in better shape than it had been even before its latest crash landing, though.

"Now we just need to wait for her," Atton said. He stood with his arms closed over his chest, obviously upset about the whole situation, as he watched Mira and Mical load supplies. Maia sat on a nearby wooden crate, frowning, one leg tucked against her chest, the other hanging over the side.

They had been arguing about Zeta for the majority of the day and, as Maia pointed out, they really didn't have much of a choice at this point. They had made a deal and, like it or not, she was going to make good on it.

"Besides," she had said earlier, "do you really think she told us everything she knows?"

His answer had been no. Zeta was doing exactly what he would do in the same situation.

They didn't have to wait long, though. Within an hour of getting the green light, Zeta came strolling into the garage. She was wearing the goggles from the day before, except that today there was also a piece of folded cloth wrapped around her head that covered both eyes, effectively blinding her. Pulling both off and letting them hang around her neck, Zeta looked straight at Maia.

"I told you my guy would come through," she said. "I trust you're about to put her in the air?"

"If she holds up," Atton said, dropping his arms. "I don't feel like dying today."

"She'll hold." Zeta turned in his direction. "Daan's the best. I wouldn't risk traveling with you if he wasn't. My life is a little too valuable to me, too."

"We were just waiting for you," Maia said. "Our mechanic is starting her up as we speak." She watched Zeta as the woman advanced into the garage, hopping off the crate and wiping her hands together. Unlike yesterday, Zeta's shoulders were pushed forward, her back rounded, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jacket. Her words and tone were the same but when Maia reached out with the Force, the maelstrom was gone and she couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

_Of course_, she thought, she didn't know anything about the woman so yesterday could have been the anomaly. Maia somehow doubted it, though, considering she had put on a similar attitude during her years of exile and had eventually grown into it. It was a tough thing to give up, now that she was Jedi again; now that she was supposed to care about everyone, not just the good and kind.

Zeta seemed to take notice of Maia's interest and looked up. "Can I help you with something?"

"No," Maia said with hesitation. "I… Are you okay?"

The Chiss woman straightened her back and shoulders.

"Never better. I assume it's fine if I board?" Zeta brushed past Maia without waiting for an answer and took the gangway into the ship. She paused at the top of the ramp and straightened her jacket before taking a hard left, her boot heels clicking on the metal floor. Mira and Mical exchanged glances before following Zeta into the ship; Atton hung back and touched Maia's waist before she could board as well.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, not looking at him. "She's so strange, Atton."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Maia frowned. "I mean exotic. Or complex…or something. It's hard to describe."

"Why'd you agree to take her with us, then?"

She shook her head. "Partially for the intell, partially because she intrigues me." Maia sighed. "She's like I was before I met you, I think. Lost. I want to help her."

"She doesn't look like she really wants your help, honey," Atton said, leading Maia up the ramp and slapping the closing mechanism once they were inside. "But I'm not the one on a goodwill crusade across the known galaxy."

"I'm not on a crusade."

"Yeah. Just like I wasn't crashing." Atton grinned at her before pressing a kiss to her cheek. Maia ducked away but lingered under the weight of his arm.

"I don't want the crew to know."

"Are you ashamed of me?"

She smiled. "Yes."

"That's not what you said last night," he replied in her ear. "Besides, I think they suspect something is up."

Maia's jaw dropped even as she laughed. Pushing away from Atton's arm, she spun on her heel and walked away, though not before throwing a look over her shoulder. His lips tilted into a smile as he put his hands in his pockets and took the quickest route to the cockpit.

"Out of my chair, lieutenant," Atton said, hiking his thumb over his shoulder, not minding his tone. Even if the ship was in Maia's name, it was his to pilot and he protected his position like any creature defending its den. There were very few times he would allow anyone else pilot the _Hawk_, even Maia.

"I don't believe I see your name on it," the other man said even as he stood. Atton just sniffed and slid around Bao-Dur to sit down. Adjusting the seat and pulling it up to the console, he waved towards the co-pilot's station.

"You're welcome to assist, if you want. I'm not sure what you'll be doing, but if you don't mind sitting around and waiting, go right on ahead and take a seat." He began going through a pre-flight checklist even though Bao-Dur had just finished doing the same, stopping just short of turning the ship on seeing as the engines were already humming with life. They clicked as they went through their rotations, a probable result of the harsh treatment they had received out on the plains, but Atton wasn't worried. He'd flown ships in far worse condition than the _Hawk_ and his continued existence was simply proof that he was good at what he did.

"I suppose there's nothing else for me to do until we put her in hyperspace," Bao-Dur said, taking a seat at navigation instead, "considering you have things under control."

"Damn straight, I do," Atton replied as he maneuvered the ship out of the dock. Before he could engage the thrusters, however, a pair of police craft lifted into view in front of them. Atton frowned and hit the intercom. "Hey, Maia?"

"Hey, what?" she comm'd back.

"Didn't you say that we wouldn't have any trouble with the cops?"

"That's what I was told, why?"

"Because I'm staring down a couple of boats as we speak."

Maia's end was quiet for a length. Atton watched the speaker and jumped slightly when she finally answered. "I wonder what the chief's definition of three days was."

"Not a great time to question that," Atton said, maintaining the ship's hover. The _Hawk_ began to complain in the form of a shudder. "What d'you want me to do?"

"Well," she said just as the police outside began to make noise. Something about getting back on the ground and coming out of the ship, hands in the air. "Do you feel like going back to jail?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Then I think you know what to do."

Atton turned a smile on Bao-Dur, who didn't respond in kind. Instead, he pulled crash-webbing on just as Atton accelerated over the top of the two little ships, pulling back on the yoke as he did. The _Hawk_ leapt upwards, climbing towards the sky as he pulled the controls into his lap, the planet's gravity trying to pull them back down to the surface.

The faint sound of sirens made its way into the ship. Atton smiled.

The smile was wiped from his face, however, when a transport suddenly appeared right where he wanted to be. Dropping the ship and banking sharply to the left as another ship appeared behind the first, he turned the _Hawk_ in a sharp spin and shot off in another direction, this way clear of all craft, his mind reeling to catch up. Pulling the nose up once he could see straight and pushing the ship to its maximum speed, condensation collecting on the viewports in front of him, Atton shot out into space. The _Hawk_ slipped slightly as the engines switched over to their ion drives before allowing him to accelerate away from the planet.

Two blinking lights of pursuing craft remained on a small screen in front of him. He cursed sharply, hating the police for investing in space-worthy ships.

"Chart us to some place," he told Bao-Dur over his shoulder.

"Where to?"

"A system, dead space, black space, it doesn't matter. Just feed the computer some viable coordinates that ain't a star or a black hole." He didn't risk another look at the other man as he dropped the ship below some space junk. "Any time now will do."

"Give me a moment," Bao-Dur said, flipping through the charts.

"It doesn't have to be paradise." Atton wove through a number of clustered ships, hoping the shake their pursuers, but the police where having none of it. They simply found another way through the group and were back on their tail before Atton could even think of what to do next.

The other man didn't answer for a minute or so and Atton began to fidget; the two little dots were getting closer no matter what stops he pulled. He didn't know what they would do once they caught up, but he sure didn't want to stick around to find out.

"Okay, you're good to go," Bao-Dur said. Atton brought the coordinates up to double-check them before reaching to the top of the console and shoving the appropriate lever away from him, realspace spinning outside the cockpit and distorting as they made the jump.

--

Maia waited until they had been in hyperspace for about an hour before beginning her search for Zeta. It was nice having another Force-user on the ship now that Visas was gone. She had left while Maia was still in the hospital on rumors that some of her people had survived the destruction of Katarr and in her absence the Force had felt empty, somehow. The appearance of Zeta was almost a blessing if only to bring a little more life back into the immediate Force. Not only did Maia suspect the other woman to be one of the few fully trained Jedi still left after the Purge, Zeta claimed to hold information that would give her life purpose once more.

At first, Maia hadn't minded helping Mandalore, but she had grown uneasy in the last week about rebuilding the Mandalorian army. He was a friend—Mira was a friend—but Mandalore had been able to recruit a huge amount of strength in only a couple of months and Maia wasn't sure if she could trust his intentions anymore. It was a grey area and Maia didn't like grey areas, so having something as black and white as the reappearance of the Sith was a relief. The Sith were bad and bad had to be eradicated. It wasn't something she could question.

Still, there were things she wanted to know about Zeta—considering she knew next to nothing—and even if the other woman wasn't willing to talk, Maia figured she might as well try. There wasn't any harm in that, after all. A few simple questions to build camaraderie and to start the healing she sensed the other woman so desperately needed: that was all Maia was after.

She sighed, though, not sure why she felt so compelled to help the other woman. It had been the same with her friends and every other person she had met since coming out of exile. Each was broken in some way, so to speak, and Maia couldn't rest until they started to come together again. For Mical it had been the Force; for Mira and Atton, a friend where they had none before. But for Zeta? The woman felt like she was in so many pieces Maia wasn't sure where to begin except to talk.

_Why,_ she thought, _has this become such a compulsion?_

Maia didn't have an answer, though suspected it had something to do with her own fractured life.

She shook her head.

For being somewhere in a small freighter, Zeta turned out to be a terribly difficult person to find. After searching every room at least once, Maia eventually discovered her in the back of the cargo hold behind several metal containers, sure the other woman hadn't been there the first time she looked.

Zeta was sitting with her back to the door, tinkering with something or other, her presence in the Force so diminished Maia couldn't actually feel her sitting there until she saw her. The Chiss woman looked up and over her shoulder when Maia approached before putting away whatever she was working on and turning around. Maia couldn't help but notice how she rounded her shoulders during the turn.

"I figured you would find me eventually."

"You didn't make it easy, I'll tell you what," Maia said.

A smile crossed Zeta's lips. "It's a skill." Her eyes glowed brightly in the dark. "I take it you want to talk. Most Jedi do."

Maia furrowed her brow before going on, her first question a surprise even to her. "What's with the cloth and goggle look?" She waved vaguely at her face.

Zeta just combed her fingers through the long ponytail that fell over her shoulder and didn't answer right away. When she did, she worked her jaw before going on. "My eyes are sensitive."

"What do you mean?" Maia approached the containers slowly and sat on the floor, amazed she had received an answer. More now than back in the garage, there was a noticeable change in the woman, despite her greeting. She couldn't say what had brought it on and she wasn't sure if she was glad for it or not.

What she did know was that there were walls around the woman unlike any she had encountered before and everything about Zeta frightened her. She could see the people she had grown up with in the woman; the ones who had followed Revan when she could not. This was what they had been just before they fell and Maia felt the dark side calling to Zeta. Somehow, though, the woman was able to resist where so many others could not. She was brash and aggressive, from what little Maia knew about her; she was everything the dark side was, but not among the fallen. That's what made her strange and Maia wanted to understand why. She couldn't help it.

And when Zeta glanced back at her, the desire to know more grew even stronger.

"Humans are disconcerted by their appearance," Zeta said slowly. "Others find them distasteful."

"Your goggles would be enough, though. I'm guessing there's another reason."

"Look, I don't need your charity."

"I'm just talking. It's up to you if you want to answer."

Silence fell between them. Somewhere in the ship, Atton was getting on Mical's case—his voice carrying through the walls. Under it, the hyperdrive hummed as it propelled them through space, quieter than it had been in some time.

Zeta's cheek twitched. "I was discouraged from using my eyes in certain situations as a child."

"That's…unusual."

"I grew up in an unusual manner."

"Because of your Jedi training," Maia prompted.

Zeta frowned. "I was raised in an academy on the edge of space, yes. They took me when I was young and taught me to use the Force." She paused and worked her jaw. "My master wouldn't let me use my eyes while dueling."

"Why not?"

Zeta looked at her but didn't answer. Maia chewed on her lower lip and tried something else.

"That's where you're going isn't it? Back to your academy."

The other woman shook her head with a jerk and seemed to hesitate. "I'll admit that that was a line playing to your sympathy. That home doesn't exist anymore, at least not for me."

Maia took in a breath, all too familiar with the sentiment. Dantooine had once been that to her.

Zeta went on. "It happened right after Revan returned the second time." Her eyes glowed fiercely in the dark. "A lot of the students got caught up in the politics of their masters and were wrongly punished for it. It was…terrible." Drawing her knees up and laying her arms on top of them, Zeta looked proud but defeated and Maia's heart swelled with compassion; she had found a kindred spirit. There was finally someone else who would know her pain, though she didn't wonder at the strange coincidence of finding another exiled Jedi.

Maia laid a hand on Zeta's arm, then. She always figured there were more; that she wasn't the only one to be banished. It would only be fair. "What have you been doing since then?"

"Selling information. Turning a con or two. Trying to live. You and I aren't that different, I think. We've both wandered the galaxy, lost in our own skin, as it were." Zeta turned towards Maia, who felt the woman's touch through the Force. It was comforting to have someone else on the ship with the same abilities as she. They had grown up knowing the Force and feeling it flow through the fiber of their beings. Maia only hoped she could calm Zeta's tempest and allow her to see peace once more. Another Jedi; it was more than Maia could have ever hoped for.

"No, I don't think we're too far off from each other," Maia said with a smile. The other woman smiled back, though it was slight and didn't reach her eyes. "You can stay with us as long as you'd like, Zeta. We could use someone like you. Another Jedi is always welcome."

Zeta didn't speak right away. "I… Thank you. I think—"

But she was cut off by Atton's abrupt arrival in the cargo hold. The women hadn't felt his approach; Zeta's frown was deeper than Maia's.

"I thought I would find you two having a little pow-wow," he said still standing in the doorway. "Though it's kind of a dark and gloomy place, don't you think?"

Zeta looked at him. "Not much different from the rest of the ship, is it?"

Atton frowned but Maia spoke before he had the chance to respond. "Was there something you wanted?"

He nodded. "We need to know the course of action once we drop into dark space."

Maia pressed her lips together and glanced at Zeta before looking back. "Mandalore said there were some mercs in the Endor system. They might have a Sith master."

"Hoth," Zeta said as if she hadn't heard Maia. "There are Sith on Hoth. I know it for a fact."

"A fact?" Atton said as he narrowed his eyes. "That's a real confident claim, sister."

"Spacers talk." She stood quickly, her pack gripped in one hand. With the help of her boot heel she was just taller than Atton and Maia felt diminutive in comparison even though she was considered tall herself. Atton straightened his back with a frown but couldn't make up the difference as she continued. "And I listen."

"Nobody in their right mind goes to Hoth, so I don't know how they would know," he said.

"I'm not in the business of figuring out how they come by their information," she said. "So go to Endor after the Mandalorians who _might_ be led by a Sith if you want or go to where they are without question. Like you said, nobody goes there, so maybe the Sith are trying to establish another base in a place no one will expect them or find them or maybe they've found something there. It's on the edge of known space, as you know." She frowned then. "But I'm just along for the ride, so the decision isn't mine to make. Now if you'll excuse me, I might as well claim a bunk."

Zeta crossed the cargo hold and barely waited for Atton to move out of the doorway before squeezing past him. He strained his neck to watch her walk off down the hall.

"It's up to you, Maia."

She sighed. "We'll go to the Sith. We need to figure out what they're up to. The Republic is too weak right now."

"I thought that's what you'd say. I'll go tell Bao-Dur to chart a course." Atton stayed where he was a moment longer before turning away and leaving Maia were she stood. She just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache blossoming behind her eyes.

Something felt wrong.

--


	8. Seven

Chapter Seven

That night, Maia woke to the sound of a lightsaber. In her half-conscious state, she thought it was the lingering remains of a dream she could barely remember and rolled over to steal another couple of hours before getting up to face the galaxy. But when the distinctive humming and thrumming persisted, she sat up and pushed sleep frazzled curls from her eyes, staring at the door. Mira was still asleep in the far bunk, her red hair pushed up to one side, but the third was empty. Maia pressed her lips together.

It had been nearly a standard day since they managed to escape Alderaan's atmosphere and other than the conversation she had had with Zeta in the hours after their initial jump to hyperspace, she hadn't spoken to the woman and only saw her a few times as she explored the ship. Eventually, Zeta stopped walking through the lounge entirely, which was where almost everybody else was passing the time. Maia didn't bother thinking about it, though, considering she was busy beating everyone at dejarik.

"Stop reading our minds," Atton had said after his fourth consecutive loss. One of Maia's pieces was happily eating the last one of his, despite being holograms.

"Not my fault they forced us to play this at the enclave until our eyes rolled out of our sockets," she replied, sitting back and counting the credits she had won. Atton's frown deepened. "You should know by now not to bet against a Jedi."

"There're a lot of things I should know by now, but it doesn't mean I do." He kicked at T3 even though the droid was out of reach.

"That's for sure," Mira said, helping Maia count her winnings. Atton had just scowled at the two women before standing and exiting the lounge for the cockpit.

After that, the perceived evening quieted down, people wandering off to their respective bunks when they no longer felt like remaining awake. Maia had joined Atton in the cockpit for a little while to watch the glow of hyperspace before eventually succumbing to her exhaustion as well.

She wondered now how long she had been asleep but couldn't find her wristchrono in the pile of clothing next to her bed. It only made her more curious about what time it was—not that time mattered in space—and she rolled to her stomach, pushing through the clothing and boots to no avail.

Giving up, she pushed herself up off the bunk and shivered as her feet touched the cold metal floor. She took a thick sweater from the top of the pile to stave off the chill.

As far as she could tell, most people in the ship were still asleep with the exception of Mical, who was in the cockpit keeping an eye on the ship, and apparently Zeta. A small stack of clothing was on the middle bunk, evidence that Zeta had planned on occupying it at some point but other than that, there was no indication she had spent any time in the bunkroom.

Waving her hand over the door controls, Maia left the cabin hoping to find her new companion.

The sound was louder in the hallway and almost seemed to be coming from the very walls themselves. It was comforting, somehow, hearing that noise in the otherwise silent ship. It brought her back to the happy years of her childhood rather than the years of battle that followed. There were no screams of dying men here, no smell of ozone as a battle waged around her, just the purr of a simple weapon as someone moved through their forms, pausing, slashing, deflecting.

She walked through the ship, careful not to make a sound, curious about who was training. The part of her that was a teacher hoped it was Mical. Now that he had the basics of combat down, he could start perfecting his technique. He was already good, but still had a lot to learn and Maia wasn't willing to introduce him to the more complicated forms until he mastered the basic few she had already taught him.

But Maia knew it wouldn't be him, no matter how much she wished he would practice rather than study. She was used to the cadence of his combat and the sound of his blade as it moved through the air. Like each Jedi, each blade was different and in the stillness of the ship, the differences were obvious to those who knew what to listen for. No, this blade had a deeper thrum to it than Mical's had and a lingering, high-octave whine that Maia could barely register. She wondered if it was on purpose to foul up those opponents whose range of hearing was greater than hers or if it was a fault in the manufacturing of the hilt and resulting blade.

Whatever the reasons for it, Maia found that she was happy and didn't care. She had long lacked a good sparring partner and until now had been forced to rely on battle to bring her back to her pre-exile strength. She only hoped that Zeta would agree to practice against her.

Her hand curled as if gripping her lightsaber. She hadn't known how nice it would be to use such a weapon again; how much she had missed it. She stepped through one form, and then another, closing her eyes and concentrating on the way her bare feet touched the decking and where she shifted her weight. She punched the air once and crossed, her shoulder still sore where she had skinned it. Still, she smiled and even chuckled slightly as she dropped her arms to her sides, shaking them once.

Rounding the corridor to the cargo hold and pulling the Force into herself so as not to disturb her new companion, she only hoped that she would be able to catch the woman in action. A faint glow of indistinguishable colour flashed on the far side of the threshold as Zeta defended herself against tiny laser bolts, the faint _pop-pop-pop_ of a training remote now accompanying the drone of her blade. One of the deflected bolts flew into the corridor and left a little circle of ash on the wall.

Maia frowned at the damage and stepped into the doorway just as Zeta deactivated her blade. The Chiss woman didn't look over her shoulder at Maia, though, her eyes covered, the faint light of the hold reflecting off the gleaming cobalt skin of her back. Wearing full trousers, no boots, and a short chemise—her torso far leaner than Maia would have guessed—she held her hilt out to her side in a reverse-grip, her arm extended, and it was the first time Maia had seen the other woman's weapon. Unlike her own fairly short hilt, Zeta's was almost long enough to be a double-blade.

The ship remained quiet as the remote circled the other woman looking for an opening before Zeta finally moved. She gestured at the little droid with a flick of her wrist and caught it with her free hand as it fell. Turning, she held the remote between her waist and her sword arm as she pulled the cloth off her face, black hair falling into her glowing eyes.

"I didn't disturb you, did I?" she asked.

"Me?" Maia said. "No, of course not. Shouldn't I be the one asking that?"

Zeta shrugged. "I'm the guest and the one who should be courteous. You and your crew have been together for a long time and have a routine that I don't want to disturb."

"Atton and I left Peragus only about nine months ago, so not that long," Maia said. Zeta's brow rose into her long bangs and Maia could sense her surprise. And, truth be told, even Maia was a little stunned at what they had been able to accomplish in under a year. Atton called it luck but Maia didn't believe in such a thing; another trait left over from her upbringing. "That shouldn't matter, though."

"There's a rhythm developed by people who live and work together that the presence of someone new tends to disrupt, especially when confined to a ship this small." Zeta turned away and walked to a satchel sitting on top of one of the containers. Placing the remote inside, she put down her weapon to pull on a lightweight tunic. "I will figure it out eventually so as not to step on any toes."

Maia leaned on the door jamb and crossed her arms against the cold. "People tend to stay in their own little corners, if they're not just sleeping the time away instead. I'm sure it won't take you long to find your place here."

"If the others accept me." Zeta paused in her search for something in her bag, but didn't look up. "I can sense their distrust and am sure your pilot dislikes me already. He's not what he seems, is he?"

"Atton has…issues." Maia frowned and wondered how much Zeta knew about them that she wasn't letting on. Had she spent the last two days on Alderaan gathering intell on their histories? She went on, watching the other woman closely, "The rest are fairly open-minded, but you should probably know that the last Jedi woman we had on the ship turned out to be one of the three big Lords, so they're understandably nervous."

"I assure you that I am not like her, Maiali," Zeta said, looking up. Something touched the back of Maia's mind and she glanced out into the hallway, T3 wandering by as she did so. She smiled at the little droid as it passed before looking back at Zeta.

"I never suspected that you were."

Zeta nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that," she said, "all things considered."

"I don't jump to conclusions, Zeta, and like giving the benefit of the doubt. I don't trust easily by any means, but a number of the people I met in my years of exile were generally good. I mean, sure, I've dealt with more than my fair share of bad guys, but most people are just trying to make their way through life and right now we've been given a pretty crappy end of the stick what with all these piggy-backing wars." Maia straightened. "And with people like us being hunted down like game despite the lifted bounty, well, I figure we have to stick together if we want to survive."

Zeta watched Maia as she spoke, pushing loose strands of hair from in front of her eyes as they fell out of their restraint. She looked young in this light, younger than Maia had originally suspected, but Maia also knew all too well about how war shaped and aged the children of this galaxy. She still felt older than her relatively few years and wondered if her body would ever catch up to her mind; she wondered, too, what Zeta had seen to make her so hard, if it was the same as her: if she had held dying friends. If she had killed any.

Furrowing her brow, Maia looked back at Zeta and said, "I'm sorry, could you say that again? I didn't quite catch your question."

Zeta's eyes flashed slightly as she turned her head. "I simply asked where you put the Sith in this scale of people like us."

"The bounty was on Jedi, not Sith."

"But the people of the galaxy don't necessarily know the difference. They see a Force-wielder and think Jedi, not light side or dark side. So I'll ask you again. When talking about people like us who should stick together, don't you think the Sith should be included? or do they simply deserve to die because the Jedi consider them evil?"

Maia frowned. "The Sith and the Jedi have completely different principles."

"So?" Zeta said.

"Meaning that I don't think we even qualify to be put on the same scale. They want chaos, war, and tyranny and we believe in peace and order. We're barely able to stand the sight of each other, so I don't see how we would be able to stick together, especially now." She shook her head slowly, watching Zeta.

"No need to get up in arms," Zeta said. "I was only curious about where you stand. Like you, I don't think the Sith and the Jedi can co-exist peacefully. But I also don't think that one or the other should be vanquished completely. Without the chaos the Sith bring to the galaxy, Jedi would go mad in their temples and without the Jedi to keep them in check, the Sith would first destroy the galaxy and then themselves. It's a very delicate balance."

"So why are you offering to help us get rid of the Sith?"

"Because there are too many of them and the galaxy is slowly slipping into the oblivion they're creating in their greed to rule it all. For the sake of all life, they have to be stopped." A smile crossed her lips. "Your pilot is right in that Hoth is just a little corner of the galaxy that does little more than collect dust, but if the Sith are allowed to root, there's no saying what other terrors they might unleash. No one will be able to survive them again. That much I know for sure."

Maia nodded once. And then again. "I suppose you're right."

"The Sith have done more than just hurt the Jedi. And even though you hurt them when you killed Nihilus, Sion, and Traya, there are still many out there who have yet to realize that their reign of terror must come to an end if they don't want to obliterate everything they want to rule."

Maia narrowed her eyes. "I sure hope you're not talking about avenging the death of every civilian and Jedi they've killed to get back at them, because, I'm telling you, that's dangerously close to falling to the dark side and becoming one of them."

"Is it?"

Zeta tilted her head to one side. Maia didn't answer right away. When she did, she said, "I can help you, Zeta. I know what it's like to lose everything and everyone. I know the terrible feel of absolute desperation. If you let me, I can show you how to make it stop."

"I'm able to deal with my life on my own, thanks. I've been doing it for a long time."

"But you don't have to be alone. You shouldn't have to be alone. Let me help you." Maia tried to reach for the other woman in the Force but was thwarted as Zeta looked at her, no emotion on her face or in her presence.

"Please," she said, "don't let me keep you from your sleep."

"Is that all? Not even an acknowledgement?"

"No." Zeta's eyes seemed to glow brighter in her anger, but Maia couldn't be sure. All she suddenly knew was that it wouldn't be a very good idea to pursue that particular line of conversation, but couldn't tell if it was her idea or a suggestion from the other woman. "Please," Zeta went on, "I don't need you dredging up anything more, even if your intentions are good. Maybe one day I'll ask you for a kind word, but you'll have to wait until I am ready. Don't ask about my temple again."

Something touched the back of Maia's mind again. She didn't really notice.

"Have you slept any since yesterday?" Maia said for lack of anything better.

"I will once I meditate. Good night, Maiali."

Maia looked at the other woman, tension leaving her body and mind quicker than it should have, Zeta's anger nearly forgotten now. "Good night, Zeta."

The younger woman inclined her head in a nod and turned from Maia to sit in the middle of the cabin, legs crossed in front of her. Maia watched her for a moment before retreating from the room, not exactly sure what to do with herself now that she was awake. She wasn't terribly surprised, however, when she found herself walking towards the cockpit. Mical turned in the co-pilot's chair as she entered.

"I didn't expect to see you for another couple of hours," he said with a smile. "Did Zeta wake you?"

Maia shrugged as she took Atton's seat, curling into it against the cold. "I don't think so. I just sort of woke up. I did go speak with her, though."

"She wouldn't talk to me." Mical put the book he was holding in his lap and sat up straighter to see Maia over the top of the central console. She was looking out the viewport and watching the galaxy flash past. "Though I didn't try very hard. She doesn't seem like a very verbose person."

"I think it depends on the topic."

"How so?"

But Maia didn't respond, too busy thinking about what Zeta had said. Did the galaxy truly need the balance the Sith and the Jedi offered it? Maia's training wouldn't allow her to think so. The Sith represented pure evil and it was her duty to purge it from the galaxy.

Wasn't it?

_Yes,_ Maia thought, _yes it is._

"Maia?"

"Yes, Mical?"

"Do you know for sure there are Sith on Hoth?"

"No." Maia glanced at him. "But Zeta seems sure about it and I have no reason to not believe her. If it weren't for her, we'd be in jail right now rather than in the comfort of our home."

Mical studied her for a length before responding. "I think I might have to side with Atton on this one. We don't know anything about her. She could just as easily be leading us astray."

"I considered that," Maia said. "But I'd rather run the risk of a trap than I would letting Sith run rampant. You've seen the damage they can do; I'd like to try to prevent that from happening again. No one is strong enough to face another Dark Lord so recently after the last."

"Are you?"

Maia looked at him from where she had rested her chin on her knee. "I have to be. And until I'm proven wrong, I'm going to go through with Hoth and whatever intell comes from it. Mandalore can deal with his brothers on his own since we're the only ones who can deal with ours."

"Just be careful. It's not just your life you have to take care of anymore."

"I sometimes wonder if it would be easier if that weren't true," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Her only response was a sigh, her mind otherwise occupied with what Kreia had told her of the future on Malachor. And then, "Don't worry about it. Why don't you go get some rest. I can take over here."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think I'll be sleeping anymore tonight." She sat up straight and gestured towards the rest of the ship with her chin. "Get going before I pull the Master card."

Mical chuckled and stood. "I'll speak with you later, Maia."

"Good night, Mical."

She watched him leave before returning to her observation of hyperspace and her thoughts of Kreia. Hopefully she could hold off her departure for as long as possible, if not indefinitely, but something told her that the events of the galaxy had been set in motion to force her away from her friends. How soon would the end come?

Maia didn't know.

--

_A/N - Oh, man. This chapter almost didn't make it onto the site this week. You'd think that unemployment would give me the opportunity to write more but I just seem to slack off. I'm thinking that I'll have to start haunting a local coffee shop in order to find a new job/write these stories. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! They really help me in the long run and do make bad days a little bit better. Thanks!_


	9. Eight

A/N - Okay, so I'm a terribly lazy girl, at least so far as fanfic is concerned. I guess I can't really be considered lazy when I spend my time looking for a new job and revamping my portfolio. I just need to find the time (which I still have plenty of) to really, seriously work on parts two and three (Slayer and Harbinger, respectively), otherwise I'll end up with an incomplete story (It's true. Part one is a complete story, so no worries, but there's so much more than just these 25 chapters.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully, hopefully, I'll get to Slayer. I've got the first thirteen chapters planned, I just need to fill them out, now.

--

Chapter Eight

After dropping out of hyperspace above the ice planet of Hoth, Maia chose to remain in orbit for nearly a standard day waiting for storms to clear enough to run a planetary scan. Zeta's intell didn't go so far as coordinates for a Sith base—though she tried to contact one of her informants in the hours it took the _Hawk_'s new instruments to scan the planet—and Maia only hoped they would be able to get some kind of a reading. All that came back was a small group of life signs in the northern hemisphere.

It was as good of a place to start as any.

"This has to be the ugliest summer in the entire galaxy," Atton said, surveying the landscape once they exited the ship. They were on the border between glacier and tundra, the ship parked in the snow behind them. It was one of the few places on Hoth that hosted plant life, though not much, and mainly consisted of lichen covered rocks and some greenish-brown grass.

"Does this even count as summer?" Mira asked. She shivered and put her arms around her body in a feeble attempt to trap heat under her coat. The entire crew was as prepared for the cold as they could be and though not nearly as cold here as it would be on one of the snow plains or up in the mountains, everybody had on heavy jackets with the exception of Maia and Zeta who seemed unaffected by the cold in their relatively thin clothing. Maia wore a thick hood to block out the cold wind, Zeta a fur-lined jacket with her lightsaber sheathed over her right shoulder.

"I really don't know," Atton replied. He turned and, looking past Zeta, addressed Maia. "So, where are the Sith, cap'n?"

She looked back at him and lifted her shoulders. "That group of life signs is to the east of us, but for all we know, it could be animals. I…" she paused and creased her brow. "No, there seems to be a concentration of dark energy coming from that direction, so I would say it's a good bet that's them."

Her lips curved into a frown as she glanced at the taller woman on her left whose face was tilted towards the frozen ground, her body rocking slightly. The cloth once again sheltered both eyes beneath her goggles.

"It's them," she said. "There's not enough life on this planet to mask their presence."

Maia's frown deepened. "I wonder why they came here. There's no darkness for them to feed off of; no wars or remnants that I know of."

"They're probably using it as a staging ground since people don't generally hang out around here. Maybe a pirate or two." Zeta ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "We should do away with them before they establish anything permanent."

"We might be able to save them," Maia said, looking to the east now.

"I doubt their minds are salvageable for anything more than information. I don't think this is their hub," Zeta said. "The spacers on Alderaan seemed to indicate they were looking for something on another world, some device, but none could say which. Or what."

Atton gave her a hard stare. "Not as good as you claim, are you?"

Zeta turned towards him. "If nobody says anything about a location, Si… pilot, there's no way for me to know where they might be. The galaxy is a big place."

Atton's eyes narrowed; nobody had tried to call him that in a long time. "Excuse me?"

"The smell of Nar Shaddaa isn't the only thing that reeks from your person."

A silence descended that was only broken by the wind and the crackle of snow beneath feet. Bao-Dur and Mical, who were standing on the far side of Maia, stepped back and leaned around their leader to see what was going on between Atton and Zeta that words alone couldn't relate. Mira went to join them from where she had been standing next to Atton.

Maia clenched her jaw.

"Okay," she said at length. "Let's not kill each other, please."

Zeta's lips twitched. "We should head out before they realize we're here."

"What makes you think you get to go?" Atton asked.

Maia cut in. "I need you both. Mical, too."

"Good," Mira said. "I didn't feel like playing in the snow anyway." The slump of her shoulders told otherwise. Bao-Dur didn't say a thing. Somebody had to stay with the ship, after all, until Atton finished programming a new defense system.

Maia nodded slowly and turned to her chosen party. "Get yourselves ready; we head out in fifteen."

"I'm ready," Zeta said. She hooked a gloved thumb through her utility belt. Atton regarded her for a moment longer before heading back into the ship, everyone except their newest companion following.

"Why are you bringing her with us?" Atton asked Maia the moment they were alone in the armory.

"I think she's one of the Jedi that disappeared during the Purge."

"You don't sound terribly convinced there, Maia." Atton attached several blaster packs to his belt. "For all you know, she could be Sith. They're pretty damn good at deceit. It's kind of their specialty."

But Maia just shook her head. "I would know."

"You didn't with Kreia."

She frowned. "I learned my lesson with her. Besides, by the end, I didn't let her out of my sight, remember? I knew she would betray us, I just didn't know when or how." She took in a deep breath. "I don't feel that in Zeta. She's lost. She needs our help and I plan on giving it to her."

Atton didn't say anything.

"I'm not asking you to like her, just give her a chance. That's all I need. Where would you be if I hadn't given you one?" Maia said.

"Space dust."

"Exactly." She tightened her utility belt with more force than necessary. "I don't want to discuss it anymore. Accept that this is what it is."

He opened his mouth to go on, but Maia turned away and almost ran into Mical when he entered the armory. But rather than apologizing to her student, she simply swept past him to join Zeta outside.

--

After Maia's departure from the ship, it only took a couple of minutes for the men to finish retrieving their weapons, neither wanting to look unprepared next to their new companion who seemed to be winning Maia's favor inexplicably fast. Atton didn't like it and decided to make a more obvious show of it; Mical was more subtle in his displeasure, though he had been given no specific reason to distrust the Chiss woman. He merely saw her occupying the time Maia could spend teaching him and gaining the trust Maia was reluctant to give.

It certainly didn't help, then, when the two women took the lead immediately upon leaving the _Hawk_, conversing between themselves and forcing Atton and Mical to walk side by side. The men didn't look at each other, nor did they speak.

The small group remained in this configuration for the hours they spent crossing the tundra. Every so often, they would happen across small rodents and larger canines that would quickly disappear behind rocks or into holes in the frozen ground. Once, they spotted a herd of tauntaun lounging in the sun next to a particularly large rock.

And though the air warmed as the sun crossed the sky, the temperature hardly rose from frigid. The only thing keeping them warm was the fact they were moving. At one point, Atton had to remove the scarf that covered his face when his goggles started to fog up.

"Hey, Maia?"

She paused to look at him and propped her own goggles up on her forehead. "Yeah?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Do you see any Sith running around?"

"No…"

She smiled, though, and pointed at the rocky outcropping they had been walking towards. It was at the base of a mountain on the far side of a snowfield, evidence the Hothan summer was coming to an end. "Not far, now. We suspect they've set up in a cave somewhere in that."

"That's comforting. I always like _somewhere_." Atton rubbed at the snow dust that was beginning to collect in the stubble he still hadn't bothered shaving off. At this rate, he was practically growing a beard.

"This isn't an exact science," Maia said. "And my compass doesn't have a dial for Sith. Only north."

He narrowed his eyes against the sun. "What about your moral compass?"

"Funny," she said, turning around. "We'll be there soon enough."

And they were. Within the hour, the small group was exploring the cliff for any sort of a cave that might have invited a group of Sith in as well. There weren't a lot of openings in the rock face, but each one incited a lengthy discussion between Maia and Zeta that was full of a lingo Atton recognized but couldn't remember, mostly because he had blocked off that part of his brain some years ago. Still, he listened closely as the women came to a decision that the Sith were indeed somewhere inside. From out here, though, it was basically impossible to tell which fissure would actually lead them to the encampment.

And even after identifying all of the possibilities they could come up with, it was another hour before Maia reached a decision. Standing with her hands on her hips, her chin tilted up, she studied a crack some eight meters off the ground.

"You've got to be kidding me," Atton said. "There has to be another entrance."

"There probably is," Maia said, not looking at him. She was trying to figure out how to get up there. "But we don't have time to find it. For all we know, it could be on the far side of this thing or on top of it and that could take days."

"That's what we have a ship for."

"We strive for subtlety, Atton, and flying a ship right up to the entrance of a secret Sith base ain't that." She paused. "I think climbing is our best option."

"This is sheer rock."

"Not so much," Maia said. Atton muttered something about Jedi but followed his leader as she removed her gloves and tucked them into her belt. Testing the rock, Maia found a grip for her hands and, putting her feet on the wall, she hauled herself up, groping for another hold as she went. What she found was only wide enough for her middle and ring finger, but it was something and she pulled herself up again, her foot in the place her other hand had abandoned in the search for a grip of its own.

In her exile, Maia had had to learn to live without the Force, and though she had it back now, she chose not to rely on it when she didn't need it. She could easily climb the rock face without assistance, so she used only the strength in her arms, back and legs to haul herself up the wall. Glancing down at her companions once she reached the bottom of the crack she had identified, one fist and both feet shoved in it for stability, she saw how Atton struggled and how Zeta used the Force to guide her hand with confidence. Only Mical seemed to follow her example, just as she had taught him. He took up the rear and was watching Atton as if waiting for the man to fall, ready to catch him if he did.

Satisfied, Maia turned back to the wall and continued to use the crack until it grew wide enough to fit her entire body into. Pressing her back against one face, her feet on the other, she rested once more and shook out her arms. She had taken up climbing buildings in her exile for lack of other hobbies, but it had been a long time since she attempted rock. Probably not since the days of the wars, she figured as she studied the rest of the wall. The ledge they were aiming for was only a body length above her head and Maia only hoped it went as deep into the rock as they needed it to. She could hear wind whistle through its depths, just as she had on the ground, and decided it a good sign.

With a roll of her shoulders, she put a leg on the wall behind her and stood, stemming between the two rock faces as she searched for another grip.

"Are we…almost…there?" came Atton's voice from below. He and Mical had just made it to the crack.

"I think so," Maia called back as she found her way once more. There was little in the way of holds this close to the end, but she managed to find enough to get her to their goal. Hauling herself up onto the ledge, Maia wiped her hands together and wasn't terribly surprised to find her knuckles bleeding from the rough stone. Glancing once more at her companions and taking in a deep breath, she stepped away from the edge and explored the entrance of the narrow passageway that led into the rock.

"Is this what you were looking for?" Zeta asked as she joined Maia. Neither woman drew a labored breath.

"Yeah," Maia said. "I can feel them down there."

"The entire mountain is breathing their rage," Zeta said as she adjusted her goggles and the cloth beneath. "It's fascinating."

Maia glanced at her but didn't say a word. Who was she to reprimand this woman for her opinion? There were varying degrees of righteousness within the Jedi Order and Maia had placed Zeta at the lower end of that scale within seconds of their last conversation on the _Hawk_. Had Zeta been on Dantooine, Maia suspected, she would have followed Revan to battle and beyond; one more Jedi who would have left her behind.

If she was even old enough.

Maia shook her head of the thought and looked over her shoulder as Atton and Mical joined them. Despite all of his bravado, Atton was leaning over his knees, gulping in air. "Lord…in heaven," he said through gasps. Mical just went to his Master, leaving the other man on the edge to recover on his own.

"I suppose we should rest," he said to Maia, his brow furrowed, his breath heavy. He added, "For his sake."

She smiled. "We can take a few minutes, but the quicker we move, the less likely they'll notice us. I hope. History isn't giving us good odds, though." Her smile turned as she looked once more at the darkness Zeta had ventured into. Maia could just see the outline of the other woman, but even that quickly disappeared. "Okay, maybe we'll go now."

Atton snorted.

"Come on, Atton," Maia said. "You don't want to be beaten by a couple of girls, do you?"

"A couple of girl-roids, you mean." He straightened with a groan and gave her a hard look. "There isn't something you've been hiding from us, is there, Maia?"

"Like my problem with battle stims? Oh…"

"I was wondering where all of our money had gone," Atton said. "You almost got me killed once, you know, because of your little problem. I couldn't pay off a debt back on Nar Shaddaa."

"I would have thought you'd be used to that by now." She smiled and pointed into the darkness. "Get your rear in gear, mister. Mical, I want you to watch our backs."

"Of course," he said. Maia touched his arm in thanks and turned to follow Atton and Zeta into the darkness.

--

Before too long, their route through the stone became incredibly narrow. Maia and Zeta had to walk at a slight angle while the men were forced to shuffle along sideways, their shoulders too broad to fit properly between the two walls.

"You still sure this is the right way, Maia?" Atton said from behind Zeta. Maia paused and looked over the shoulder of the woman who separated them even though there was no light to see by.

"Yes."

"It's just that I feel like we're going to run into a dead end real soon here. Either that or the kid is going to have a claustrophobic panic attack."

"I will not," said Mical, who was still in the rear. Atton shrugged without looking at him. "Nor am I a child."

"I think he was teasing you, Mical," Maia said. She turned back to the path in front of her but didn't start moving right away. Instead, she closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. She reached out to the walls around her in an attempt to see past them. A voice in her ear stopped her.

"The Sith will know we are coming if you extend your mind too far," Zeta said softly.

"I've never had a problem with it before," Maia said, half turning to her. "So I don't know why I would now."

Zeta just frowned. "Perhaps I was taught to be a little more cautious when dealing with others who use the Force. Every master is different."

"Yes, every master…is," Maia hesitated, not because of what Zeta had said, but because she had suddenly felt something ahead of them. Zeta tensed behind her.

"What is it?" Atton said, having found himself in a group of people who had all suddenly stopped breathing.

"Shut up," Maia said. He didn't argue. "Let me—"

"I got it," Zeta cut in. She pushed off the wall to their right with one foot, pressed the wall on their left with the heel of her other palm and leapt over the top of Maia's head. Before anyone could argue, she ran down the widening passage ahead of them. Not even the sound of her footfall echoed back.

_snap-hiss…_

Maia expected to see the walls light up. They didn't. Nor did any more sound reach them in the minutes they waited for Zeta's return. She furrowed her brow and was about to turn to the men behind her when something whispered in the back of her mind like the sound of a dead comm unit. The whisper slowly rose in timbre as the walls around them began to shake, reacting to the wail that emerged out of the quiet.

Her mind throbbed.

"What is that?" said…someone. Maia couldn't tell which of the men had asked the question.

"I—" she tried to say. The audible wail in the cavern became a shriek in her mind. She clutched at the sides of her head, wishing she could tear it in two to let the terrible sound out. Blood trickled from her nose, from an ear; she screamed just as it screamed.

Atton put his hands on her shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh through her clothing, his jaw clenched against the noise that ravaged their ears and their minds. He said something—probably her name—but Maia didn't hear it. She was gripping at her hair, unable to produce a rational thought, and screamed again, her healing throat tearing, the tang of blood on her tongue. He folded over her.

And in the silence that followed, Maia collapsed.


	10. Nine

A/N: Okay. So. Apparently I fell off the face to the planet for a couple of weeks. Actually, I took an impromptu trip to Seattle and then got really lazy about editing which meant no posting. But now I'm back (from outer space?) and we can move on past the cliffhanger. Woot.

--

Chapter Nine

Maia opened her eyes and closed them immediately. Even the dark was too bright. She opened them again and realized that it wasn't the dark that was too bright, it was the light. She blinked several times and brought a hand up to block it out.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Mical answered. "I think Zeta found the Sith."

"And?"

"And they haven't found us yet," he replied.

"I see that. Where are we?"

"Atton found a cave above the passageway and I dragged you up here. He's off looking for Zeta, now."

"You make me sound like a burden." Maia sat up and had to steady herself against cold stone as the world spun in a dizzying twirl around her head. Her mind swam; her ears buzzed. When they stopped, she opened her eyes again. The cave was little more than a hole just big enough to fit the two of them. A little glowrod giving off hardly enough light to see by was sitting next to Mical's hip.

She watched her Padawan a moment longer while allowing her brain to fully adjust to consciousness before she rolled onto her belly and pulled herself to the edge of the cliff. The floor was hidden in shadow; there was no way to tell how high up they were.

"How the hell did you get me up here?" She paused. "No. Belay that. How in the hell did Atton find this place?"

"I suspect it has something to do with his talent for finding hideaways when you need him for something he doesn't want to do," Mical said. "He also turned on a glowrod to illuminate it, muttering something about just knowing it was here when I asked how he found it."

Maia chuckled as she sat back. "Maybe I should insist a little harder on training him, too. Create myself an army of Jedi. One who can heal, one who can hide. We'd be unstoppable."

"I think he's about as Force sensitive as this cave. In fact, I think the cave might be edging him out."

But Maia shook her head. "No, he's as strong as you, Mical. Maybe stronger. It's why he was so good at what he did." She frowned. "He doesn't want the training, though. Not everyone dreams of being a Jedi when they grow up. Some just want to forget."

Mical didn't say anything except, "Oh."

"Yeah, but don't tell him I told you. I don't think he would like you very much if you knew."

"I don't think he likes me very much anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." She looked at him and pointed at the glowrod. "Douse the light. You need it anymore."

"Atton told me to keep it on so he could find his way back."

"It also makes it easier for the Sith to find us. Besides, he's almost here."

As she said it, an arm appeared, and then the top of a head.

"Stop talking about me when I'm not around," Atton said as he climbed into the little cave, panting. Lying on his back, he propped his feet on the wall by Mical's head. "Some people might take it as a glove slap."

Maia looked at him; his head was pillowed in the palm of one hand, the same elbow resting on her knee. "Are you looking to walk ten paces, then?"

"Nah. I believe too much in self-preservation to ever challenge anyone to a duel. Especially you." He smiled and propped himself up on his elbows. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Because you seemed pretty bad off when he insisted that I go off to find Zeta."

"Really, Atton, I'm fine."

"Though, I don't know why he couldn't go find her."

"Of the two of you, he was probably the most qualified to stay here."

Atton opened his mouth to thank her when he seemed to think about it. Narrowing his eyes and sitting up completely, he frowned. "That was a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one."

"No, it wasn't. Did you find anything?"

He just looked at her a moment longer before answering. "Yes and no. Zeta wasn't around and there was a pretty good drop off about a hundred meters from where you went down. I couldn't tell how far the path continued, but there was a body down there. Human, by the looks of it. No lightsaber burns that I could see."

Maia frowned. "I'm sure I heard one, though."

"Well, I didn't say anything about him not having one, which he did. A lightsaber, that is. At least, that's what I think the cylindrical thing in his hand was." Atton shrugged. "Like I said, he was kind of far down and my muscles are tired enough from the climb we did this morning that I wasn't about to climb down some ten meters, back up the same bloody cliff, get up here to see if you had survived and still expect to be of any use for the next month, let alone the rest of today." He looked at Mical. "He should have gone snooping around. I think he might be a little better at fighting Sith than I am. But only by a fraction."

"I won't argue you on that point." Maia said. "Too bad there aren't two of him."

"Hey…"

"You said it, not me." She turned to Mical and gestured with her chin. "We should probably get going and see if we can't find her."

Neither man responded as Maia crawled over Atton's legs to reach the cliff descent; there wasn't nearly enough room to stand. She looked at them as she lowered one leg over the edge.

"You sure you're up to it?" Mical asked as she lowered her other leg, her fingers gripping a little crack in the stone. "You did just pass out."

"Hell of a time to ask," she said as she found a perch for her foot. Crouching and straightening her arms to lessen the strain on her muscles, her chin level with the floor of the little cave, she looked from her Padawan to Atton and back again. "I'm shaky, but good. My brain doesn't like it when someone tries…that and it can sometimes short out, which is a real pain, as I'm sure you noticed. Something about faulty wiring, I think." She paused with a frown. "I wonder who it was. That certainly was an impressive noise they created."

Atton snorted.

Maia looked at him. "Were the walls shaking?"

"Maybe we should rest a little longer," Mical said, cutting in and watching her closely as if waiting for her to lose her grip. Maia just sniffed.

"The longer we wait, well…" she pressed her lips together. "I don't know. I'm guessing she's been captured since she hasn't come back looking for us. And I'm not leaving her behind, so don't even think about saying that out loud, Atton."

"Stay out of my head," he said, probably more viciously than he intended to. He didn't apologize, though, and Maia just lifted her brow before she started the descent.

Unlike earlier, Maia was spoiled with choice for hand- and footholds, the wall sloping less than perpendicular, which made it an easier climb on her fatigued legs. Wiping her hands together once she was off the wall, she watched the men for a moment or two before starting down the path, not quite waiting for them to catch up. It was wider here.

Maia didn't make it very far, though, before her senses prickled. She put out a hand behind her and waited for one of the men to bump into it. Atton.

"What's the deal?" He rubbed at his chest. There was no light this deep and without a lit glowrod there was no way to see. Still, the wind whistled somewhere above their heads; there had to be an opening somewhere.

"Sith," Maia hissed.

"We must be getting close then," Atton whispered in her ear. He had drawn up right behind her, his hand touching her hip in the dark. "Because there weren't any here the first time I came through."

"Obviously not, laserbrains. You'd be dead."

"Real supportive, thanks."

"I try."

"Where are they?"

Atton got his answer in the form of a sharp elbow to the gut as Maia reached around to retrieve her lightsaber from its place on the back of her belt. She hadn't meant to hit him, he was simply too close. And she didn't get a chance to apologize as a red lightsaber appeared out of the dark, hers activating a split second later to catch the blade as it slashed towards her neck.

Maia side kicked as well as she could in the narrow space and was pleased when her foot met with soft flesh rather than hard stone. The Sith grunted and stepped back while Maia threw her body into a back flip and caught the man in the chin with her toes, breaking his neck as his head snapped back.

Reaching out into the darkness in front of her, Maia waited for the other Sith to attack. There were a few of them in the passage ahead of her, each waiting for his chance at her, but none moved, perhaps stunned. Maia didn't know, nor did she care, so long as they didn't make her come for them.

The next one rushed forward without activating his weapon and Maia leapt as he approached, landing on his shoulders and breaking his legs under the enhanced force of her drop. She struck his temple with the hilt of her deactivated weapon as she stepped off him and had just enough time to reactivate it for the next Sith. He was quicker, though, and parried her attack with a slash and a kick to the chest, throwing her back towards her party. She skidded into Atton she went so far.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Mical said.

"Not really, no." Maia sent a Force wave in the direction she had come. "I'd rather not get shot in the back." The red blade went tumbling away from her as its owner was caught in her attack. And before the Sith could stand back up, Maia grasped for him in the dark and slammed his body into the wall. The lightsaber deactivated.

Another was there to replace him the moment Maia released the unconscious Sith. She ducked under the attack and deactivated her lightsaber once more to bring the hilt down hard on the unseen foot in front of her. The Sith cried out and Maia rolled backwards as he stabbed at the ground. Leaping to her feet, Maia ricocheted off one wall and spun midair as he nearly found her once again. With barely a touch to the ground, Maia lunged herself forward to pierce the Sith in the gut with her extended blade. He only blocked her, pushing her into the stone, a hand around her throat, the other slamming her sword arm into the wall several times and forcing her to drop her weapon. She gasped, hardly able to breathe, hardly able to think, and brought her knee up between his legs, hoping her opponent was, in fact, male.

She got her answer when he grunted and bent over in pain, though without releasing her throat. Instead, he leaned more weight into her, using the Force, too, to crush her airway. Maia's eyes rolled back into her head.

She gasped again and gripped at his arm, trying to force him off.

And then his hand tore away from her throat and out of her grip as he suddenly disappeared from in front of her, his nails leaving trails on blood on her skin. Maia doubled over, half-collapsed against the wall and gulping in air. Fighting back her sudden nausea, she hardly heard the sharp _crack_ of a neck being broken and the silence that followed. That was the last of them.

A moment later, one of her companions turned on a glowrod. Mical. Looking away from him, she watched as Atton stood from where he was kneeling on the Sith's back, wiping his gloved hands together, blood staining the tips of his exposed fingers.

"Are you okay?" he asked, holding a hand out for Maia. She took it despite the blood, gripping his wrist with the other hand and looking over his shoulder at the fallen Sith, their bodies close. He put his other hand on her arm.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly. "Thank you."

He only answered by dipping his face towards her neck, the tip of his nose to the curls that had fallen out of their restraint. She looked at Mical over the other shoulder.

"I would have expected more," Mical said, ignoring his companions' proximity. "This can't be the entirety of their security."

Maia shrugged lightly and stepped away from Atton. _So much for keeping it a secret now_; she glanced at the Sith around her. Two of them were still breathing. "Then we'll deal with that threat when it finds us. There's no point in dwelling on it if we're not certain it's there, Mical. Remember that. Paranoia has no place in a Jedi's mind."

Mical nodded. "Of course, Master. Forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive." She narrowed her eyes at Atton who wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his laughter. "Let's go find their friends. Maybe we can talk them out of causing any real damage."

But she wasn't sure she would be able to. These Sith had attacked without provocation. There was no saying what the others would do once they entered the base.

--

After that, it didn't take long to reach the pit Atton had found, though it was less of a pit than it was a large and rather deep cavern. There was a spot of light far above their heads, the wind blowing a symphony over the crags and columns. A few of the walls glittered, but the team focused more on the decent than on anything else, all exhausted.

The first one off the wall, Maia approached the body slowly.

"You were right," she said to Atton when he joined her, crouching next to the dead man. "It was hard to tell anything from up there." In fact, it was hard to tell anything from the cavern floor as well. They did notice, however, that there was no obvious way out. The path Atton thought he saw was merely a deep crevasse.

"You doubted me?" Atton said, standing over her and holding a glowrod to help her inspection.

"Not really. Just trying to mend your ego. You operate better when you're confident." With the dead man's lightsaber in one hand, Maia touched his cheek and rolled his head to the side. She made a small sound in the back of her throat. "His neck's been broken."

"Is that significant?" Mical said. She looked up at him before standing and clipping the lightsaber to the back of her belt next to her own.

"I just expected her to use her lightsaber."

"How do you know she killed him?"

"Her trace is on him," Maia said softly. She furrowed her brow. Why hadn't Zeta used her lightsaber?

Atton looked at her and thumbed the glowrod off. "What's the plan?"

"There's got to be a way out of here. Besides back, I mean."

"There's an idea," Atton said. Maia gave him a hard look. "Well, I mean, obviously there's way out. It's not like they just dematerialized through the walls or climbed out through that skylight."

Maia's expression changed and she shook a finger at Atton as she turned back to the crevasse. "That's brilliant."

"Thanks. What is?"

She didn't answer. Pausing just outside the narrow crack in the stone, Maia touched both the interior and the exterior walls and closed her eyes. A smile spread across her lips. "It's not stone. Not really."

"Um…?" Atton.

"Sorry?" Mical.

"Synthstone. Maybe treated duracrete."

"How the crap did you come up with that?" Atton asked. He walked over to her and put his hands just above hers. "There isn't any difference."

"It's subtle but if you shut out everything else and pay attention to only the two walls, you'll notice the one inside the crevasse has a different texture." She watched Atton closely to see if he would follow her instructions. When he smiled, hers widened.

"Yeah, I feel it," he said so only she could hear. "What do we do now?"

"Walk into the shadow." She looked at Mical and gestured him over. "I've seen these before, back during the wars. It's a cloak and a clever one at that. It only gives with a fair amount of pressure, though. We usually had to run at them to get through."

"You're kidding me," Atton said, dropping his hands. "You want us to run into solid rock?"

"Weren't you listening? It's not solid. It's physics. Watch me."

Stepping back and telling the two men to move out of her way, Maia dug into the ground with her toes and sprinted for the rock. Atton cringed as she neared the wall and barely saw her disappear in what the men had assumed was just a shadow, the edges rippling slightly. They looked at each other.

"Well, crap." Atton lifted his brow. "You do it first."

Mical didn't argue. He also didn't look happy but retreated to the same spot Maia had started from. With a little hop, he ran at the wall and disappeared in the same spot she had.

"Hot damn," Atton said before suddenly feeling extremely alone in the large cavern. Glancing over his shoulder, sure there was something watching him, he went to the same spot the two Jedi had started from. Studying the wall and convinced that he was seeing things and possibly even dreaming, Atton took the path with a little less gusto and closed his eyes the moment he touched the shadow.

--

_Elsewhere…_

She stalked the corridors of her ship, angry. He had broken his promise more than once now and she was beginning to wonder if he had been telling the truth at all. She wanted to believe him, desperately and inexplicably. His way of speech was so smooth, so much like a song that she hung on every word of it, anxious to know what would come next.

He could soothe her where few others were ever able to.

She had no explanation for it, but her every emotion was met and thwarted by one of his; she hardly noticed it happening most of the time. So they hadn't found them yet. Next time, surely, the meeting would take place. It was no matter that they had been wandering around the galaxy under a constant cloak of darkness for months now on an unfulfilled promise.

Even the thought of him calmed her and she stopped at one of the many plants that filled her dreadnaught, stroking its soft leaves between her fingers. Little of the life on her ship was sentient. It was simply better that way.


	11. Ten

Chapter Ten

What she hadn't said was that it hurt. A lot. It was like his entire body was waking up, pins and needles pricking every inch of his skin. What if she had made a mistake and this wasn't a cloak at all? What if the Sith had discovered a way to create a tiny black hole and his body was being torn to pieces, molecule by molecule?

Thankfully, the pain didn't last long and Atton suddenly found himself stumbling into a very bright hallway, accompanied by Maia's chuckling. Now his eyes hurt along with everything else.

"You didn't believe me, did you?"

"I don't think I'll ever doubt you again," he said as a shiver ran through his body. He had been through some pretty strange experiences in his life, but that one claimed the top spot on his list. "Though, my loyalties began to falter halfway through."

Maia grinned widely.

"It hurts less the faster you go," she said. "Less friction or something. I never quite understood it beyond a caveman level. You know: Maia run fast, Maia no hurt. I've been through a dozen of them with dozens of soldiers. Only one person didn't make it."

"What?"

"I'm teasing you."

"Oh. Then shut up." He scratched his head. "Where do we go now?"

Maia looked behind her. The hallway had no obvious doors and no place to go besides back into the cavern or straight ahead. She looked back at Atton and said, "Seriously?"

"I was thinking that way." He pointed over her shoulder. Maia just looked at him with a slight shake of her head before turning around and taking their only option. There had to be a door somewhere along its length otherwise what point would there be in building it? Besides, the further they walked the stronger the dark side seemed to glow. They were here, she just didn't know where.

And when they reached the end of the rather long corridor without even the indication of a hidden door, Maia frowned. This wasn't like any Sith base she had infiltrated up until now. Granted, she hadn't been in a lot, but a hallway to nowhere seemed like a strange concept for anyone to have, especially the Sith with their mazes. She of course thought of all the various kinds of traps that could be waiting for them, but had no sense of eminent danger and allowed herself to believe they were safe for now.

And then a panel slid open to their left. Atton had his hand on his blaster faster than Maia could put hers in the air. The panel closed again. Maia's frown deepened as she watched it.

"Stealth?" Atton asked. Maia shook her head. "Then what?"

"It's malfunctioning." She said as she stepped over the threshold the next time the door opened. Another hall without doors.

"This is strange," Atton said, following. He didn't let go of his sidearm. "Why would the Sith build a bunch of hallways into some random rock on the most random planet in all the known galaxy?"

"Let me know when you come up with an answer," Maia replied, not looking at him. "'Cause I'm wondering the exact same thing."

When they reached the end of the second corridor without encountering any doors, Maia turned around and began retracing their steps, waving the men silent when they started to ask questions.

"I thought I heard something back here," she said at length. "I didn't pay any attention to it then, but…" She didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she stopped in front of a blank section of the wall that looked like every other blank section of the wall. Studying it and putting her ear on its surface, Maia pushed. It gave with a hiss.

"Ha."

The room was empty.

"What the hell," Atton said when he followed Maia into the dim room. "An empty room off of an empty corridor…"

Maia wasn't listening, even as Mical commented on the situation as well.

"I don't think this is a room," Maia said.

"What else would it be?"

"We should really get out of—"

But Maia didn't get the chance to finish when the floor opened beneath them and they dropped into a well the colour of pitch. Her hair whipped out of its restraint. One of the men yelled out in surprise.

They fell.

And as they fell, Maia reached for the ground beneath them but couldn't find it. She tried again, harder this time, expanding her mind as far as it would go. If she couldn't find it, she wouldn't be able to slow their descent. And if she couldn't slow their descent, well, she didn't even want to think about what might happen.

There.

Extending her hands towards the ground and pushing against it, Maia could feel herself slow down. With a different part of her mind, she reached out for Atton, knowing that Mical had found the floor as well.

But then the floor found them. Maia hadn't expected it so soon.

Slamming into the hard stone with a grunt, Maia's left arm seemed to explode with pain, never mind the foul-tasting water that filled her mouth as she gasped. It wasn't deep, but it was there. Someone started to cough, another groaned. She spat up the water that made it down her throat as she rolled over and got to her knees. Her arm wasn't broken, but it certainly hurt like it should be.

"So not a room," Atton said, still coughing. "Couldn't you sense that?"

"Right before the floor opened up, I did. Didn't you hear my warning?"

"I was a bit busy with falling, sorry."

Maia pressed her lips together and turned on her glowrod. "Jedi aren't infallible."

"Yeah, I noticed."

She shined the light in his eyes where he still lay in the shallow water. "Get up. We need to find a way out of here."

"What makes you think there's a way out?" Atton said, shielding his eyes against the light and standing. Almost. The crude stone tunnel was several inches shorter than he was tall; a fact he noticed too late. Maia's hair brushed the top of the barrel vault if she hinged at the waist.

She turned the glowrod to the ground. "The water's going somewhere."

"Probably deeper underground."

Maia shook her head. "Let's just hope there aren't any critters down here of the mean, nasty variety."

Atton snorted.

--

As it turned out, Maia was right on all accounts. There weren't any creatures lurking around in the dark and there was a way out. It took them about an hour to find the rusted metal door that led back into the base, but found it they did, and not a moment too soon. There was a strange smell in the tunnel and when Mical started coughing Maia began to suspect it was some kind of a gas. She was able to hold her breath against it, but soon, even Atton's Nar Shaddaa hardened lungs succumbed to whatever was in the air.

He breathed in deep the moment they were clear of the tunnel and immediately began coughing again.

"So where are we now?" he asked as soon as he could. The room they were in looked exactly like the corridors they had inadvertently left behind; just as empty and just as bleak. There were also no doors.

Maia shrugged. "I have no idea." Despite that, she walked to the opposite wall and touched her palms to it. "Zeta's been near here." She put her ear on the white plane and closed her eyes. "Raema, too," she said more to herself that to anyone else. Her heart fluttered.

Atton didn't seem to hear the last thing she had said. "And how do you propose we get through?"

Maia stroked the wall once with her index finger before she stepped back and drew her lightsaber. "Like this," she said as she thumbed the blade to life and plunged it into the wall. The metal turned first black and then molten red as she dragged the blade in a great arc over her head and back around to where she began. Retracting the blade, she kicked the new hole in and waited a moment for the metal to cool before stepping through.

Though not sure what to expect when she entered the next room, a pile of Sith bodies wouldn't have even made the list, yet there it was. A door was open across from them.

"That's different," Atton said, joining her. "Usually we're the ones who create one of those."

Maia furrowed her brow as she knelt to touch one of the bodies. The ones on top were Zeta's doing, but further down… "Someone else has been here."

"What makes you say that?"

"Not everyone was killed by Zeta. There are other traces on these bodies—other Jedi. I don't know who." She lied; she could feel her friend on some of the dead Sith. "Where the hell is she?" Maia stood and wiped her hands together slowly.

"I don't know about you, but this is starting to get weird." Atton turned in a circle. "I never thought I would say it, but I don't like the Sith being dead already. Especially when some were killed by none of the people we can account for."

"Yeah, I know," Maia replied as she stuck her head in the next room. This one at least had some chairs and a table. Most of them were overturned, the table in two pieces on opposite sides of the room. How long had she been unconscious? Why hadn't Zeta returned once she took care of that Sith outside?

Who else had been here?

_Raema…_

Someone behind her groaned and her thoughts were wiped from her mind as she looked back at the men. When they shook her heads, she turned to the pile of bodies. They hadn't been killed here, just deposited. A chill ran up her spine as she searched them for the one that was still alive.

A finger twitched and Maia pushed another body aside to reach the woman beneath.

"Jedi," the woman said. She tried to spit blood in Maia's face but it only dribbled from the side of her mouth.

"What happened here?"

She attempted to laugh. "What do you think happened?"

"You're going to die soon," Maia said. "Painfully, by the looks of it."

"I welcome it."

"Just tell me what I want to know." She didn't offer any help.

The woman's smile twisted. "Why should I help you? The last Jedi only killed those of us they could when we didn't answer their questions."

"They?" Maia asked. She gripped at the woman's collar. "Who was here before us?"

The Sith coughed, blood flowing freely now. "The galaxy is going to burn no matter what heroics you try, little Jedi, so why does it matter who came before you? You might want to tell your friend that. She was looking for someone, too."

Maia's eyes narrowed, anger rising as bile in her throat, and she had to flex her hand to quell the sudden urge to strike the woman, surprised at how quickly she had been baited. Damn Kreia. She could almost hear the woman's voice in her head even now.

A strangled cry caused Maia to straighten, though, and drop the Sith woman. It had come from down the next hallway.

Without consulting the men, Maia left the pile of bodies and charged through the room to the corridor beyond. She barely looked around before spinning to her left and sprinting, the scattering of dead bodies a good indication she was heading in the right direction—these, though, had been struck down by a lightsaber and Maia wondered what had changed. Reaching out, she felt the newly familiar presence of Zeta before her, along with another. And it wasn't Zeta who was in distress.

A wall opened in front of her and she skidded to a halt, not wanting to spook anyone who might be inside, and Zeta turned to look over her shoulder, her red eyes glowing in the darkened, lavishly decorated room. It was a shock after the rest of the base.

"So you _are_ alive," Zeta said as she turned back around. Maia sidestepped to see what held the woman's attention and was surprised to see a man against the wall several feet in front of Zeta's lifted arm. "I had wondered what happened to you when I returned and couldn't find anyone. I simply assumed the Sith had another entrance and took you as their prisoners. Obviously I was wrong."

The man Zeta held up didn't struggle as Atton and Mical joined them, stopping in their tracks at the scene. Neither spoke.

"What are you doing?" Maia asked, not sure if she was appalled as she climbed the steps to Zeta's side. The woman's maelstrom had returned.

"Obtaining information." Zeta narrowed her eyes at the Sith. "Where is your master?"

The man gasped; his mouth working but no words coming. Maia somehow doubted the conversation had been verbal before now.

"There are better ways of getting the intell we need, Zeta," she said with hesitation. "There is no need for this."

"How? By asking nicely? I tried that." She held up her lightsaber and indicated the two halves of another. "He didn't feel like talking and killing him would have been useless, not to mention wasteful. He knows the information we seek, he just isn't using his words like a good boy should."

Maia moistened her bottom lip. "You don't have to torture him."

Zeta snorted. "I'm holding him against the wall. He can breathe, his heart is still beating. I would hardly call this torture."

"When you're inside his head, fear and intimidation count," Maia said softly. Zeta just turned to look at her again.

"Would you have me show him mercy after what the Sith have done? The galaxy is barely holding itself together because of his people. I can't go home because of his people." Zeta looked back at the man, her fingers closing. He choked. "What is your Master looking for?"

She bared her teeth. The man wheezed in a breath.

"A Force weapon," he said, his voice hardly audible. "I…I don't know where…"

Zeta loosened her hand and allowed the man's feet to touch the floor, though still without letting him go. Maia put her own hand up as if to stop her, but paused only inches from her shoulder, staring at the Sith. This was what she wanted. This was the information she needed. Did it really matter how it was obtained? During her exile she might have done something similar to the pimps and drug lords; now it seemed like a terrible thing.

But had anything really changed in those months in between? Maia liked to think that she had risen to something more than just some bounty hunter; to something like what she used to be, something more noble. Still, she wiped her lifted hand across her mouth before dropping it back to her side, allowing Zeta to continue.

Zeta looked over her shoulder at Maia as she approached the man—her hand still raised in front of her—and ran the back of her opposite fingers down his cheek. Something in the back of Maia's mind twitched. "I think you might know a little more than that," Zeta said in his ear, though loud enough for Maia to hear. "I'll save you from your Masters if you help me. And if I know Sith like I do, then I know they won't be very happy with you once you return groveling to their feet. You're not very important to them are you? Little more than an apprentice? You can be important to me."

The man glanced at Maia before looking back to Zeta. "I wasn't told… But… I think Korriban. Or Raxus Prime. I know there are Sith there."

"Thank you," Zeta whispered in his ear before clenching her fist, her nails drawing little half-moons of blood from her palm. The man gasped once and crumbled to the ground.

Maia looked from Zeta to the Sith and back again, hardly able to form words. "He's dead."

"You asked me to stop."

"But you killed him for what the Sith have done to you. Revenge leads to the dark side, Zeta." Her voice was even quieter now as she wondered what might have happened to the Sith had Zeta not been interrupted. She rubbed her forehead and looked at her new companion. Why hadn't she stopped her?

"I killed him because he asked me to," Zeta said as she walked back towards Maia. "His masters would have torn his mind to pieces and danced to the harmony of his screams. They would have flayed him and made an example of him to bend others to their will. I showed kindness by giving him a quick death." She took Maia's gaze in her own. "He had too much pride to fall on his own sword and they would have found him before long and ripped our presence here from his mind. There's no place in this galaxy for traitors to hide."

She looked at Atton when she said it, though only Maia could hear her words. Atton just looked between the two women and hiked a thumb over his shoulder. His eyes were narrow in anger. "Does this mean we're done?"

Maia continued to watch Zeta. "Does it?"

"Yes," Zeta said so softly Maia could barely hear her. "There are no other Sith left in the base. We have done the Republic a great service today, Maiali."

She stepped down off the dais and passed between the two men. Maia stayed where she was and studied the woman's back, somehow doubting that Zeta had done this for the Republic. Was this her revenge for not being able to find her friend? Maia didn't like it.

Frowning, she looked back at the dead Sith before starting towards the men, pausing briefly for Atton to fall into step beside her, Mical on their heels.

"What was that?" Atton asked.

Maia shook her head, trying to find her voice. "I don't know."

"Remember what I said about making a deal with the devil?" He looked at Zeta's back. "Some parts of the galaxy say his eyes glow red from the shadows his skin blends in with. Not me, of course, but, you know, parts. And I'm starting to agree with them."

"Let's not make that leap quite yet, but I do remember." She continued to watch Zeta who appeared not to be hearing them. Maia suspected, however, that she knew exactly what they were saying. "And I want you to remember that she lost her home and everyone she ever knew. It brings out the worst in even the best."

Atton touched her arm. "Don't sympathize with her just because she's been exiled, too. I have a feeling she's a lot more dangerous than you think she is. I mean, take a look at what she just did, Maia. How could you possibly excuse that? That's Sith if I ever saw it. And believe me, I've seen a lot."

Maia pulled away from him. "She's nothing like Kreia, Atton."

He replied with an angry laugh and said, "I didn't say that."

She rapped his temple sharply with her forefinger. "But you were thinking it. And don't accuse me of reading your mind, either, because even a dead Gamorrean would have been able to figure it out. She is an ally and you had better start treating her like one or you might find yourself looking for a new home. Please don't inconvenience the rest of the crew by forcing me to hire a new pilot."

Before Atton could properly respond, Maia lengthened her stride and went to join Zeta. She didn't even spare a glance backwards to where the men stood still, Atton sputtering, Mical's hand on his shoulder without protest. It was the first time she had ever threatened to kick one of them off the ship.

--

A/N: Laziness. That's all I'm going to say except to thank everyone for your support, especially: Elwin Ransom, meeph, and Spoodles. Y'all's support really motivates me to put out the best work possible. I also want to thank those of you who have put an alert on this story and/or favorited it. Even without worded reviews, just knowing you're interested enough to keep an eye on this is wonderful. Thanks again!


	12. Eleven

_A/N – Read Hemingway's __The Sun Also Rises__ last week or so and it started getting me back into the mood to write, which is good. Maybe my "background" reading of Kerouac (I've read a couple of books while reading __On the Road__) will get me there. Finally. __Slayer__ needs some writing done on it. Oh, and I'm putting together a "soundtrack" for this story so maybe I'll give you all those song names/artists once it's done. But until then; another chapter_

--

Chapter Eleven

The ship was silent as it hurtled through hyperspace. It was night according to their internal chronos and every light in the ship was dimmed, if not out completely. All save Maia were asleep. Even the droid had powered down.

She sat folded in the captain's seat, one knee to her chest and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she watched the brilliance of faster than light travel. It swirled and twisted just beyond the viewport, a hairbreadth out of reach. It formed a halo of her hair and bathed her face in a kaleidoscope of blue, white, and yellow. Some found it too dizzying to watch but Maia found comfort in it. Hyperspace was the only truly safe place in the galaxy.

After leaving Hoth, she and Zeta had secluded themselves from the rest of the crew to discuss what had happened in the Sith base. Maia figured she didn't need Atton weighing in with his opinion or to gloat while Maia expressed her displeasure in Zeta's actions; the younger woman had stepped over a line back on the planet and Maia hoped it wouldn't happen again.

After that, the two women began talking about where to go from here—Maia didn't even think to bring the others in on the discussion, distracted as she was. First, they decided, it was off to Korriban as suggested by the young Sith, and, if nothing turned up there, they would head to Raxus Prime. There was something familiar about the planet, though Maia had never been there, and she figured she would think of it eventually. Hopefully her memory wouldn't take too long to come up with an answer.

With a sigh, she began to shift, her legs numb for lack of movement. She turned into the high leather back of the chair and closed her eyes, taking in the trace of his smell. She didn't want to stay mad at him and hoped he would be able to forgive her, too.

"I was always taught that Jedi weren't allowed to love," Zeta said. Though surprised by the woman's sudden presence, Maia didn't move, not even to open her eyes.

"It can be interpreted in different ways," Maia said. "War taught me that irrevocable passion and possession are what we must avoid, not love. It's our love that protects those we surround ourselves with. Love should be the ultimate goal of the Jedi."

"So all Jedi should go off and get married."

"I believe that we have very different definitions of love," Maia said, finally opening her eyes. Zeta's skin was almost white in the light of hyperspace. "You're thinking of romance."

Zeta lifted her brow. "In that case, I suppose I meant to point out my belief that Jedi aren't allowed romance." Maia reddened, making Zeta smile. "Neither of you hide it well."

"In my defense, I thought everyone was asleep."

The Chiss woman chuckled as she leaned on the console that separated the pilot and co-pilot. "I'm not just talking about you curling around his chair like some water-starved tree, Maiali."

"I'm not curling." Maia sat up as if to emphasize the point. "But, yes, I do admit that I have let my discipline slip in recent months." She chewed on her lower lip and looked away from the woman's glowing eyes. "I'm not supposed to be a part of their future, so have grown selfish in the short amount of time I have left with them."

"Selfish is a strong word," Zeta said as she rested her chin on her knuckles. "And the kind of thing that tears down even the most righteous of Jedi."

"Then selfish is the wrong word to use. I feel no malevolence when I use it. There is no sense of possession in how I feel about my friends and my apprentice. It is…love." She sighed. "I made the choice to live an entire life before I leave. It's not the kind of life the Jedi believe is right for us, but I feel more like a Jedi now than I ever did before…" She shook her head slowly. "Where were you during the wars?"

"Which one? I was an apprentice during the first and gone from my master by the end of the second. Six years is practically a lifetime." Zeta shifted her gaze to the viewport. Without the variation most species have in their eyes, it was almost impossible to tell where she was looking.

"You were so young."

"By Chiss doctrine I was an adult," she said with a slight frown, "but to my master I was a child, so we stayed far away from the war, as did my academy. The Mandalorians did not venture so far as our planet, nor did Revan. We had no reason to fight."

Maia's laugh came as a bark. "The Council must have showered your academy in praise."

Zeta just smiled.

They fell silent, then, Maia watching Zeta and Zeta watching the galaxy flash past. Somebody deep in the ship coughed in his sleep, his lungs still brazed by the Hothan gas. She had healed them as best she could, but at a certain point she had to let nature run its course. They would not die, but their chests would hurt for some days to come and the harsh atmosphere of Korriban wasn't going to help matters.

Zeta shifted slightly.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" she asked. "Do you intend to spend the rest of your life hunting Sith and tracking down Mandalorians?"

Maia lifted her brow. She hadn't really thought about her future except that she was supposed go into the void whenever the Force guided her that way. She worked her jaw. "I was told that I would follow Revan beyond the veil of known space."

"You don't sound like you want to go."

Maia shrugged and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "She was one of my best friends when I was growing up and we would spend our nights talking when our masters brought us home to the Enclave. Malak was her greatest friend, but she loved the rest of us, too, and we followed her into war, willing to do anything she asked of us."

"How many were you?"

"Five in all." Maia paused and looked out the viewport. "And as far as I know only Revan and I are left. It's one of the reasons I want to find her. I love my new friends, but she and I share something they'll never know. We went through a war together. We saw…terrible things." She glanced back at Zeta and asked the question she hadn't asked during their earlier discussion. "Who were you looking for on Hoth, Zeta?"

"Excuse me?"

"One of the Sith told me that you were looking for someone."

Zeta narrowed her eyes and was silent for a length before answering. "Just as you are looking for Revan, I am looking for a lost friend of my own. He was the one who told me of the Sith on Hoth and I had hoped to find him before he left, but it seems as if we were too late."

"Is that why you took me there?"

Zeta shook her head. "Not entirely. You wanted to go where there were Sith and I wanted to find my friend. What luck that they happened to be in the same place."

"But you didn't find him."

"No, but he had been there and wasn't among the dead." Zeta smiled lightly before changing the subject. "You believe Revan is your destiny, don't you, Maiali. That's really why you want to find her."

Maia didn't answer for a long time and when she did, she barely spoke above a whisper, "I do." She looked at Zeta. "I was taught that the future is constantly in motion, but I've come to wonder in recent months if Fate does exist after all. I know that I will find her."

"But do you know because you were told that you would? If Traya hadn't told you that you would leave, do you think you would still go?"

"I don't know."

"And in any case, how do you propose finding her? Few know where she is," Zeta said. "I've heard very little of her location in my travels."

Maia sucked in a breath.

"What do you mean? Nobody's supposed to know where she is." Maia put her feet on the floor and swung the chair to Zeta, leaning towards the younger woman as she spoke.

"Meaning that you alone know her position?"

"Meaning that nobody knows where she's been." Maia hesitated. "Do you?"

Zeta laughed. "She knows where she is, and I'm sure she has gathered companions who also know where she is. From what I hear, she's not the kind of person who travels alone for very long."

But Maia wasn't satisfied with that answer. "The first time we met you said that you knew things, things that I would be interested in."

"I meant that I know where Sith are and that many are leaving. I even suspected they were looking for some super weapon to finish off the shadow of the Republic while it's still weak, but that is all." She stood up straight, then, to every inch of her full height. "I might, however, be able to figure out the direction in which she traveled."

Maia's heart thudded in her chest as she rose out of the chair. "How?"

"She had to make landfall somewhere. Even one so powerful as she has to eat, drink, and fuel her ship. Somebody in this galaxy must have seen her." The corners of Zeta's mouth twisted into a smile. "I spent six years of my life gathering information. I know a lot of people who know a lot of intell." She put up a hand as if to quell Maia's excitement. "First we must stop the Sith, but then, Maiali, my friend, we can find your beloved leader."

Maia's breath caught in her throat, her mind swirling just as fast as the stars beyond the viewport. Not once had she considered the possibility of following her leader so soon. It seemed like the kind of thing that would happen in years, not months.

She thought she would have more time.

But nothing happened by chance, her mind fought back. If Zeta was supposed to be the catalyst that led her back to Revan's side, then she had no right or place to fight against it. This was the will of the Force. She had to submit.

Suddenly aware of Zeta's scrutinizing gaze, Maia wiped a curl out of her face and nodded slightly.

"Thank you," she said, backing towards the corridor that would lead her to him. "More than you can ever know, Zeta, thank you."

And because she turned so quickly to leave the cockpit and wake Atton from his dreams, Maia missed Zeta's expression as only her words followed her down the corridor.

"The pleasure is all mine, friend."

--

It took Maia nearly an hour to get Atton to agree to talk to her. In that time she managed to disturb both Bao-Dur and Mical who were asleep in the same cabin. Neither appeared happy and Maia suspected it was more for their sake than for hers that Atton eventually came to her in the ship's small infirmary.

"You had better have a good reason for getting me out of bed in the middle of the night," he said as the door shut behind him. Pulling at his sleep tousled hair and crossing his arms over his chest, he stood as far away from her as he could manage.

"We're in space. Night doesn't really exist out here."

He snorted. "Whatever."

They looked at each other; Maia perched on the edge of the cot, Atton leaning against the far wall. After a moment, she sighed and tugged at one of her curls. "Okay, look, I was out of line back on Hoth."

"You can say that again, sister."

She didn't. "But you have to understand that we're working as a team here and that Zeta is a part of it now. I have to trust her."

"You really don't, you know."

"I kind of do." She let go of the curl and matched his posture, her arms folded over her breasts. "She thinks she can lead me to Revan, Atton."

"And you believe her?"

She took in a shaky breath. "A part of me does, yes. It's even the sensible part." She laughed. "Kreia said that I would go to her sooner rather than later and I certainly haven't found her on my own. Not even a hint of her."

"You also haven't been looking," Atton pointed out.

"I've always been looking for her. From the day she left me behind and all throughout my exile, I never stopped. Each time we make landfall and each time I speak with a new person, I touch them to see if she has touched them. I know her trace better than I know anything in this galaxy." She looked at him, her hazel eyes catching the light of the panels that surrounded them, her voice hushed. "I've felt her trace on Zeta."

"So she's been lying to you."

Maia's shoulders lifted in a shrug as she looked away. "I don't think so. She says that Revan didn't visit her academy while she was a student there, but she's been on her own for a long time. They may have crossed paths at some point without her even knowing it. She may have touched someone who has spent time with her. Revan's so strong."

"You've put a couple of pretty big qualifiers on that, Maia. And you have to admit that you don't know a whole lot about her."

"I know more about her than I knew about you for a long time. Are you saying that I shouldn't have trusted you as quickly as I did?" She stood up and took a step away from the bed. There were still meters between them.

Atton nodded. "Yes. If there's one thing I've learned after everything I've been through it's that trust has to be earned, not just granted. She's done nothing to earn that out of you, not by running off and killing all those Sith. You didn't even question her even though she went against everything you stand for. It's gonna come back and bite you in the ass."

Maia frowned, saying, "She's not a bad person."

She crossed the room to where he stood and touched his hand. He recoiled just out of reach.

"Are you blind, Maia? She has Sith written all over her." He pushed his hair across his forehead and stared at her. "I should know."

"No," Maia said softly. "Not yet."

His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I don't feel the taint of the dark side on her."

"What?"

"When I served under Revan, I became almost too aware of the dark side, if such a thing is possible. I could sense when someone would fall even before they knew." Maia paused. "The dark side has a sort of sticky sweetness to it and in high concentrations it makes my head feel like it's ready to either implode or explode. Either way, it's the worst kind of migraine you can imagine." Her entire body shook. "I sometimes wonder if I activated it just to stop the pain."

"Malachor." He took her by the shoulders, her muscles trembling under his fingers. With the faulty life support systems, the _Hawk_ was generally on the cold side of cold. Most of the crew was smart about wearing enough clothing to keep comfortable, so Atton highly doubted the light shift she was wearing over her trousers was doing anything to keep her warm. Still, he didn't pull her into his chest, her threat from earlier still clear in his mind. "Is that why?"

She nodded once as she rubbed the hem of her shirt between thumb and forefinger. "I could barely think well enough to fight and Kreia knew it."

"How do you face off against Sith, then?"

"Very carefully."

She looked up at him just as he wrapped his arms around her shivering frame. Closing his eyes and touching his cheek to hers, he didn't say anything, happy just as he was, her breath touching his neck, her arms pressed between their bodies as she slowly warmed in his embrace. A part of him wanted to point out her justifications and to remind her just how dangerous they could be, but a larger part figured she knew exactly what she was doing, so he didn't say a word about it. This was Maia, the woman who had saved them all.

"I don't want to go back to Korriban," she said at length. "There can't possibly be anything there that wasn't around the last time."

"Four months is a long time," he replied. "Who knows what could have moved in."

"I don't even want to think about it." She shook her head against him, her hair brushing his face. "I was there before their civil war destroyed it, back when the Academy was still thriving under Malak. It was during my exile but even in my blindness I knew the power there was strange. The Sith thought it was the dark side, but I was never convinced."

"I don't understand."

"There's some deeper evil in this galaxy than the dark side, Atton. It may fuel the dark side or the dark side it. It might be something so completely separate from the dark side that we barely have the knowledge to even begin guessing at what part of the Force it is." She sighed. "I think that's what Revan went off to hunt and that the True Sith are the conduit for whatever it is she's looking for."

"I thought Kreia said they were the evil of all evils," he said.

"She didn't, just that they were the real threat. I still don't know what she meant by it, but I think Raema does." Maia closed her eyes.

"Raema?"

"That's who she used to be, back when she still loved me." She took in a breath. "I miss her."

"Your friend is gone, Maia."

When she didn't respond, Atton broke his embrace and touched her cheek. She tried to turn away and he gripped her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his. "Why are you trying to find her?"

She worked her jaw. "Because I love her too much to let her go."

"She doesn't deserve your love."

Maia jerked her chin out of his grip. "I know. And…I…" She looked at the floor. "I think I hate myself."

"No, you don't."

"Don't I? I used to be the epitome of the Jedi. Selfless, chaste. I rarely killed my opponents and was still able to bring justice, even during the wars when the body count sky rocketed. I filled our prisons." Maia gripped at his sleeve with one hand, the back of his neck with the other. "When did killing become so easy?"

"I don't want to hear you say it, honey." He kissed her ear. "Don't even think it."

"I…"

"Please."

She hesitated but went on anyway, "I think I'm slipping, Atton. That Sith woman, you… And what scares me the most is that I can't see the bottom. Zeta's too much like me and I… I have to believe she can be saved."

"Maia."

She leaned into him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, amending her previous thought. This was where she felt the safest: in his arms in the middle of a ship that was hurtling through hyperspace. Nothing could touch her here, not even herself.


	13. Twelve

_A/N - … Sorry? I didn't realize so much time had gone by since the last update. I tell ya, thinking up the plot to a publishable trilogy (which I've been thinking on for a while, now) is time consuming, so a new kitten, named Sebastian, nicknamed Turtle. So is planning a road trip to the Southwest. So is Sims 3. Okay. Enough excuses; story (and to those of you who are possibly waiting to see if I will continue reading your stories, I will. Don't worry about it). _

--

Chapter Twelve

Maia woke the next day to the sound of a muffled voice and an unusual warmth against her back. It took her mind a long time to come to comprehension and by the time it did, the warmth started to move. It also kissed her neck.

"I could get used to this," it said in Atton's voice. An arm tightened around her and though a part of Maia's brain rebelled against it, a larger part was happy. It seemed like it had been a long time since that emotion soothed her troubled thoughts and she welcomed it. Rubbing her cheek against the pillow that turned out to be Atton's other arm, she turned and buried her face in his chest, taking in his scent.

"You probably shouldn't," she replied, putting her hand under his shirt and touching the still unfamiliar muscles of his back. "We can't really get away with this for long."

"Just kick the girls out of your bunk."

"Yeah, because that would be a subtle gesture." She tilted her chin to look at him, her face contorting slightly for the impression. "Sorry Mira, Zeta, but Atton needs some special attention, so kindly remove yourselves and find another place to sleep."

"Exactly."

"I don't think so."

She chuckled and wrapped a leg around his, suddenly aware of how small the bed they shared really was. His arms tightened around her and he had just brushed her lips with a kiss when someone knocked at the door.

"Hey Maia," Mira, "do you think I could get some gauze?" When neither of the occupants responded, she knocked harder. "We all know you're in there. Both of you. That's supposed to be a sterile bed."

Maia sighed against Atton's lips before pushing herself out of his arms and stepping off the bed. She ran a hand over her hair and pulled at her sleep-wrinkled shift and trousers as she walked to the door, waving her hand over the release once there.

"Have a rough night, babe?" Mira asked with a grin. The common room was empty behind her, a fact Maia noticed right away. "Oh, yeah, that was a lie." Mira said with a gesture over her shoulder. "Far as I know the boys are still oblivious. Well, most of them. Morning, Atton."

He gave her a quick wave from the bed just as Maia lifted her brow. "It's still clean if that's what you're getting at."

"I really don't care what you do in your free time so long as I can get something to fix my finger." Mira held up the affected digit. "Oh, and that the next time I'm injured enough to use that bed I don't contract some sort of a disease."

Maia grinned. "I guess we could use the girls' cabin if you're so opposed to us sleeping here."

"Nuh-uh. I draw the line there." But Mira's grin matched Maia's. "I can go in, can't I? I mean, this thing is really bleeding." It wasn't.

"Unless Atton's suddenly become sensitive about people seeing him in clothing, I don't see why not." She looked over her shoulder at the man who was just getting up off the cot.

"You could throw me a bit of a bone here, Maia."

"No thanks." She turned back to Mira and winked. Based on appearances alone, it was almost as if the previous night's conversation hadn't happened. "Go ahead. And try to ignore the overgrown baby in the corner. He hasn't had his bottle."

"Will do," Mira said, stepping past Maia.

"Hey…"

Maia just smiled at him before grabbing her boots and leaving the two alone to bicker, Atton complaining about his ruined reputation, Mira asking what reputation. It was a friendly and comfortable sort of banter that Maia didn't mind hearing. It made the ship feel like the home she never thought she would have again after Dantooine. There were small art projects on the walls of the lounge from the hours she and Mira had spent trying to unwind after their missions and various jackets that had been thrown over the backs of couches. The air smelled of food and caf, perfume, sweat, and a trace of oil from the droid. It was, perhaps, a little piece of heaven they had claimed as their own.

She stood there for a moment, looking around at this place she called home, not sure where in the small ship she wanted to be. They were still hours away from their drop and there was no way she could specifically prepare for the planet seeing as there was no way to know what to expect. Four months ago, they had left Korriban a dying world populated only by ghosts, corpses, and strange creatures. Her brain had been reeling from the tomb and she had little mind for anything other than a hasty retreat. The strange power she first noticed during her exile had grown stronger in the silence following the Sith infighting as if it was feeding on the chaos and murder left behind. She didn't want to return, just as she had told Atton, but her curiosity was starting to get the better of her. Korriban was called the birthplace of the Sith. Did that make it home to the True Sith as well? Maia didn't have an answer.

Where she didn't want to be, she decided, was in one of the bunks or anywhere else that didn't have a viewport, which left her with one option: back to the cockpit. Picking up a discarded sweater as she passed a couch, Maia pulled it on over her head. She couldn't tell whose it was but figured, as she rolled up the sleeves, that it probably belonged to one of the men.

Thankfully, there was no one in the cockpit when she entered. The ship could fly itself through hyperspace well enough and would alert them when their drop time approached. Still, Maia chose the pilot's seat to settle in. There was a certain comfort to it that had nothing to do with the chair itself. War had been her introduction to life outside the Enclave and she had become a skilled pilot in those years she spent fighting. Even when she was given rank, she insisted on piloting her missions.

Unlike most of the Republic generals who remained a safe distance from the front line, Maia had led her troops into battle, whether it was on the ground or in the air with the Jedi under her command. She didn't like to kill and she didn't like to fight and though it was an unfortunate necessity in war, it had never been easy. Not until after her exile, at least. She knew now that Kreia had not only introduced her to anger, but that she had introduced a sort of subtle and insidious cruelty that hadn't manifested itself until Hoth.

Maia sighed as she pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on one knee, banishing the thought from her mind. She was Jedi. A warrior of the light whose mission it was to drive out evil, darkness, and sin. She had taken vows in her youth to uphold the true and righteous path no matter the circumstances. Her every action was to preserve the sanctity of life in all its forms and to keep civilization safe. She was not ruled by emotions. She would not fail.

_I will not fail_.

The spiraling light of hyperspace began to lull her into the meditations she so desperately needed. It had been far too long since she had last cleared her mind of all things and she wanted to center herself before landing. If she didn't, she feared what she might do in the strange power of the planet. Hoth had been a neutral zone; Korriban was volatile.

--

Someone entered the cockpit.

Zeta.

"You seem troubled," the woman said. Maia opened her eyes and glanced in Zeta's direction. Even after the number of hours she had spent in the quiet of her own mind, Maia felt off balance. It disturbed her more than Zeta's sudden appearance did.

"Which is why I was trying to calm down," Maia replied with a frown. She blinked several times and turned away with a sigh. "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize to me, Maiali," Zeta said as she took the seat behind Maia's. "I'm the one who interrupted you."

Maia pressed her lips together but didn't swing her chair around the face the other woman. Instead, she pulled her fingers through her hair and began forming it into a thick braid over one shoulder. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Only to ask you about Korriban. I've never been."

"Be grateful for that," Maia said. "It's a graveyard."

Zeta seemed to frown. "I have heard of the Valley of the Lords, yes."

"No, I mean that it's a dead planet. Little managed to survive after the Sith there destroyed themselves. They left some sort of a void in their absence that only a special kind of sin can feed off of, the kind that breeds monsters and terrors." A light on the control board began to blink, followed by an alarm. Pulling her chair up to the console and pressing a button to silence the noise, Maia began to prepare for their eminent drop, wondering at the timing of Zeta's intrusion. The alarm would have been worse. She touched the comm in her ear to inform Atton that she had things under control before returning to her conversation. "It's become something akin to Malachor."

"I take it you don't want to return."

Maia's laugh was short. "What gave you that impression?"

Her hands flew over the console, flipping switches and typing sequences into keypads. The _Hawk_ was an old ship and didn't have most of the automated programs that came in the newer models, but Maia preferred it that way. She liked having total control over a ship and didn't trust computers to do everything for her. Programs could easily go awry and lead to disastrous ends.

Touching one more button, Maia leaned towards a microphone. "Okay, guys, we're about to drop," she said into the intercom, glancing up as Atton joined them. He didn't quite smile as he took the position of co-pilot.

"What?" Maia asked as he disappeared behind the console that separated them. "I thought you liked watching me handle your ship."

Zeta made a small sound that translated as humor through the Force.

"It's your ship, Maia," he said, taking up some of the last minute duties, "as you like to point out."

"Don't be so sour," she replied. Reaching for the appropriate lever, her eyes on a countdown display, Maia eased it down and slowed the _Hawk_ back into realspace. "You can have her back once we get the hell off this planet."

He didn't respond and not for the first time, Maia cursed the designer of the ship. It seemed strange that in such a small freighter the two pilots wouldn't easily be able to have a face to face conversation.

But when her eyes fell on the rust coloured planet in the viewport, her mind was wiped of all complaints about her ship and her lover as her heart thumped in her chest. She hadn't told her companions about her experience in the tomb; about her visions of them and of Revan. She had placed the blame for her confusion on the strange energy she then claimed was of the dark side rather than the fact that her vision of Kreia had baited her into killing apparitions of those she loved.

Maia gripped the controls tighter than necessary and dropped beneath the derelict remains of a Sith dreadnaught. Kicking at the pedals, she spiraled around the control tower and slid between two pieces of twisted metal that used to be the command center before accelerating towards the planet. She wanted to feel their speed and test the inertial dampeners. Pulling up just as she skimmed the atmosphere, Maia looped the _Hawk_ backwards once and glided into Korriban's sky.

"Show off," Atton muttered. Maia just glanced at him as well as she could while pushing the ship to its maximum atmospheric velocity, soaring over mountain peaks and high plateaus towards their destination. It was only when she saw the distant silhouettes that marked the Valley of the Lords did she begin to slow.

"I'm going to put down in the mountains," Maia said to no one in particular. "There are Sith in the Valley. Hopefully they won't notice us."

"After breaking the sound barrier?" Atton said, glancing at her over the console. "They'll be swarming the area looking for us."

"No," Maia said with a slight shake of her head. "No, they're distracted by something else."

"What?"

"I can't tell," she replied, her brow furrowed. Maneuvering the ship over the ground and setting it down on the flattest spot she could find, she ignored the checklist Atton normally ran through and shut down the engines. Turning her chair, she looked at her two companions. "Whatever it is, it's strange to me. It's like…" she glanced at Zeta. "It's strange."

The other woman returned her gaze. "Like the Force is at war with itself."

"Something like that." Maia sat back and glanced out the viewport. A storm was rolling across the yellow sky, turning it grey. Lightning flashed inside the great clouds as they devoured the mountains in their path and the horizon was black for the rain. The sun was drowning. "I didn't think they would come back. She told me they had forgotten this place."

"Very little in the galaxy is truly forgotten, Maiali. Korriban may have passed out of the memory of the Sith Order, but I suspect there are still those who are drawn to the power here. You came back looking for something, as did Revan and Malak before you."

"They came for the Map," Maia said.

"Then why did they establish an academy here? Certainly not for the Star Map otherwise they would have built academies on all of the other planets they visited. No, they found something here and it is reasonable to suspect that others would look for it as well." Zeta stood. "You should probably go to the Valley before long. We don't know how long they've been here or when they plan on leaving again."

"I want you out there with us," Maia said. Zeta just nodded before turning and leaving. Neither of the cockpit's occupants spoke until they were sure the woman was out of earshot.

"Why are you bringing her with you?" Atton asked. "It's like she hasn't left your side since you agreed to give her a lift. Wasn't she getting off somewhere?"

Maia turned back to the control panel to make sure the systems were cooling properly. "Would you rather I leave her on the ship unattended?"

"No."

"Then she's staying with me. I want her where I can watch her."

"You don't have to take her advice, though. It seems pretty shady, if you ask me."

"Then I won't ask."

"Ask what?"

"Ask you." Maia stood and leaned over the central console towards him. "But I do need you to suit up and get ready to head out. Everybody's going this time. The ship will be safe here."

He regarded her for a moment before turning back to his console. "Just let me get the proximity defenses set up first."

"When did you install those?"

"When you were in the hospital. I'm sure I told you," he said, barely glancing at her as he brought up a display on the screen in front of him, clicking through windows quicker than Maia could read them. "I figured it would come in handy after all the problems we've had with people getting on the ship when they shouldn't be here. I didn't perfect the program until yesterday, though."

Maia opened her mouth to speak but Atton went on first. "And before you ask, yes, I input everybody's signature so she doesn't kill us."

"Okay good. I don't know how much I would like getting gunned down by my own ship." She studied him before straightening to leave. "Bring anything you might possibly need. I don't know what we're facing."

He turned towards her. "Are you going to be okay out there?"

"Yes," she said. "I have to be."

--

_Elsewhere…_

She sat up with a gasp, her dreams of sick skies and toxic lakes rocking her out of an uneasy sleep. Running a hand over her face and through her hair, she wiped the collected sweat on her sheets and swung her legs over the side of the bunk, standing. Light danced through a crack in the heavy curtains that kept her hidden from the brilliance of hyperspace and she walked to them, throwing them aside to watch the galaxy as it flashed past, shivering in the frigid air.

Someone out there was going to activate it. Was it her? Though she had never seen the device, she had read about it in the Archives and had studied its lost logistics. That's how it was all going to end. She was sure of it; the only way to ensure that no one would harm her galaxy once it took her into its terrible maw along with everyone else.

A smile touched her lips. First she would find them. Then she would find her.


	14. Thirteen

_A/N: Okay, now that my vacation is over and I finally have internet back, I can begin posting and reading again.  
_

_Anyway, the tone of the next couple of chapters was inspired by Al Stewart's song "Roads to Moscow" about a Russian soldier's experience during and after Germany's failed__invasion of the USSR__ during WWII __from his album Past, Present and Future__. __I suggest you give it a listen. Not only is it a good song (one of my favorites—possibly perfect), it will put that sound in the back of your mind. Lyrics are from the song._

--

Chapter Thirteen

_Softly we move through the shadows,_

_Slip away through the trees…_

-Al Stewart

Maia was standing on the edge of a small cliff, her macrobinoculars held to her eyes. She turned a dial on the side and frowned, hardly able to see for the fog. It had rolled in soon after their departure from the ship and was making their journey through the surrounding valleys more difficult than it otherwise should have been.

"I don't like this, Maia," Atton said. He was standing somewhere behind her, leaning against the rock face that marked the other side of their downward sloping path. Zeta was standing between them while the rest of the crew had split off to take a different route to the Valley.

"And you think I do?" she asked, putting the useless tool on her belt and her hands on her waist. Turning to look at him, she chewed on her lower lip before gesturing over her shoulder. "We might as well keep going. There's nothing down there except rocks."

Maia's frown, however, suggested that she wasn't convinced, as did the way she turned back over her shoulder to the valley below them. The bottom was barely visible through the fog as it moved around a forest of tall stone spires. Something down there was calling to her and drawing her in. She had led them around the edge of the valley in a feeble attempt to avoid it, but soon they would have to cross to the range beyond and Maia feared what waited for them. It beat like a terrible heart in her mind.

It wasn't the dark side, she knew that for sure. After Malachor where the rocks seeped the dark essence of all the life that she had taken from its surface and from its sky, she knew the dark taint. This wasn't it, nor was it the strange energy she had felt the last time she walked the surface of this planet. It was a trace of something, a scar in the rock from some long forgotten event. A break in the fog showed deeper shadows in the spire forest.

"We'll cross here," Maia said, not looking at her companions. "I may have been wrong."

"About what?" Atton asked, coming to the cliff edge.

"There's something there," she pointed at the valley. "I don't know what."

"And you want to go looking for it?" Atton raised his brow at her. "It could have sharp teeth."

"Sharp teeth I can deal with," Maia said, looking at him. Dew was caught in her lashes and on the tendrils of hair that hung around her face. "But I don't think it's sentient."

"I don't follow," he said.

"You don't have to, so long as you follow me." She took in a deep, rattling breath before turning back to the cliff and leaping over the side. Zeta quickly followed and Maia turned the moment she landed to watch how Atton would follow them. It wasn't a long fall for Jedi but presented a more difficult task to the man who had refused nearly all of her teachings. His shoulders lifted in a sigh as he lowered himself over the edge. Climbing down to a narrow shelf, he wiped dust from his hands and jumped the remaining meter. A grimace crossed his face.

"When I'm old and grey and can no longer walk, I'm coming after you for ruining my knees," he said while rubbing at his knee caps. Maia watched him before responding.

"I'd like to see you try, flyboy," she said. He grinned at her as he straightened.

"You'll get the chance when we retire on some farm with a porch, a couple of rocking chairs, and a slew of grandchildren."

"Grandchildren?"

He shrugged. "I just want what every other man wants; people to take care of me when I'm too old to be anything but a burden."

Maia looked at Zeta who didn't seem terribly amused with the exchange. It was hard to tell with most of her face covered against the fog, but the corner of her mouth that was visible under the ragged cloth mask was turned in a frown. Maia frowned as well, once again curious about the woman's training. The Jedi accepted people of all colour, shape, and origin without discrimination, so what temple had Zeta trained in to be found so despicable as a child that she had been forced to hide her eyes?

"We shouldn't loiter," Maia said, shaking her head. "I believe whatever's in the fog will be looking for us soon."

"I thought you said it couldn't think?" Atton remained where he had landed as she took her first steps into valley.

"I don't think it can," she said, almost whispering. The injury to her vocal chords was more evident at this volume.

"Then how…?"

"I don't know," she replied.

Zeta spoke for the first time since leaving the ship. "Think of it as if there were two magnets searching for each other. They cannot think about where the other is, but are drawn to each other nonetheless. This thing, I suspect, is drawn to her through the Force just as she is drawn to it."

As Zeta said it, Maia paused, her body going stiff. Something had moved ahead of them.

"The fog will play tricks on your eyes, Maiali," Zeta said, approaching her. "You know there is nothing there."

"I'm sure I saw someone," she said quietly. "He was standing right there." She lifted her hand and pointed to the left of one of the spires.

Zeta leaned close to her. "You've seen ghosts on Korriban before?"

"Yes."

"Ignore them."

Maia felt the other woman's touch on the back of her mind, Zeta's soothing thoughts washing her brain almost too faintly to tell. She closed her eyes momentarily before blinking and nodding slowly. "I see ghosts everywhere," she said so only Zeta could hear, "so this shouldn't be any different, but it is, somehow. I think it's the fog. It's making me think they're actually there."

"They're not," Zeta said. "Your eyes can't always be trusted."

Maia laughed slightly and turned to look at Zeta out of the corner of her eye. "I'll keep that in mind."

Zeta nodded and withdrew as Atton spoke.

"Are we going or what? This fog is starting to find its way into places it really doesn't belong." When his grin wasn't met with one from Maia, he pressed his lips together. She looked at him, then, and gestured with her head.

"Let's get across the valley as quickly as possible."

"You won't hear a complaint out of me, honey."

"Good. Let's go."

Maia hesitated slightly before walking deeper into the fog, though. It was moving swiftly through the forest of spires even though no wind pulled at their clothing or their hair. She could feel the movement against her cheek, which was how she knew it wasn't an illusion, water pushing its way into her clothing, eyes, and nose. Every so often, Maia or one of the others would find themselves surrounded by a small, violent whirlwind after stepping out from behind a spire or rock, but other than that, the air was still.

She didn't like it.

More than once, Maia was sure she saw a figure moving through the fog in front of them only to see it disappear by her next step. She began to ignore them, telling herself it was only fog caught up in the whirlwinds. It didn't help, though, that every time one of the figures appeared, something caused the delicate hair on the back of her neck to prickle.

She turned, then, to look at her companions over her shoulder just to make sure they were still there. Both were obscured by the fog though not far behind and Maia began to wonder if this was some sort of a terrible dream. Their features weren't clear and it frightened her, knowing that she had been awake when she left the _Hawk_. Pausing, she waited for them to catch up, breathing a sigh of relief when Atton's face came into sharp focus as he drew up to her side. She touched his cheek and smiled at the warm skin that met her fingers.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Just making sure you're real," she said.

"Huh?"

Maia shook her head. "The fog is disorienting."

"It doesn't seem that bad to me," he replied. "Just a little wet."

She squinted at him. "I keep telling myself that it's just normal fog, but my brain doesn't want to listen." She looked past him towards the sun as it hovered above the horizon, a perfect circle in the sky, clear now of the storm. "It keeps telling me it's something more."

"What?"

"I don't know."

She looked at him again before stepping away and turning back to their undefined path, her eyes searching the nothingness before them. Breaks in the fog would reveal more spires and shadows and Maia began to question how wide the valley really was. From their cliff it hadn't looked like it would take long to cross, but now it seemed to go on forever.

"We should try to get out of here before dark," she said, trying not to think about what might find them once the sun fell below the distant mountains. "I'd rather not spend the night down here."

She began walking once more, her fingers trailing on Atton's palm until the distance between them was too great. Dropping her hand to her side, Maia blinked the moisture out of her eyes and wiped it from her eyebrows. She could deal with the physical discomfort easily, but the uncertainty of what might be waiting for them was starting to get to her. Pausing, she let Atton catch up again, not wanting to be alone in the fog.

They walked in silence, Atton at her side, Zeta a few steps behind. Whatever was out there was coming closer and Maia was sure the others could feel it, too. It was rushing at her, though as if in slow motion, and she knew she would have to duck soon if she wanted to avoid getting hit. Or so she thought. The fog was doing more than just showing her ghosts. It hid spires from her and revealed others that appeared closer than they actually were. Once, Maia even stepped to the side to avoid one only to discover that it was still meters in front of her. She was so surprised, in fact, that she paused and stared at the spire before walking over to it and laying her hands on its rough surface. She had to be sure it existed outside of her mind.

The sun dropped closer to the horizon, the sky growing darker with each passing moment, and her hopes of leaving the valley before nightfall fell with it. Watching the sun, Maia wondered if they should start looking for shelter, if there even was any. From what they had seen so far, her expectations weren't terribly high. The spires were as thick as old growth tree trunks but held no caves and the ground was a solid mass of stone with thin fissures at most. But Maia knew they had to try. Wandering around in the dark would be far too dangerous.

With a sigh, she touched the comm in her ear.

"Mical?" she said

"I'm here."

"You should start looking for a place to camp out." She glanced at Atton and Zeta who regarded her with a certain amount of surprise. Neither had expected her to stop for the night.

"Is that wise?" Mical responded. "I feel as if we should keep going until we're out of the valley."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm already lost," Maia admitted. "I thought walking in a straight line would work to our advantage, but apparently not. To be honest, I think I've been going around in circles."

"I thought I recognized that rock," Atton muttered. Maia gave him a faint smile.

"It does seem to be wider than it looks," Bao-Dur said, his voice crackling over the comm. "I don't know if it's just the fog or if Mira doesn't actually know where she's going."

Someone, presumably Mira, exclaimed something foul in the background.

"And our instruments have shown nothing but snow since we got to the floor," he went on. Maia checked her own datapad and wasn't surprised to see the same. "We'll start looking right away if that's what you wish, General."

"That's why I said it." She frowned. "And be sure someone is on the comm until morning. I want to know if anything goes bump in the night."

"Why?" Mira asked. "Have you guys been having problems?"

"Not yet," Maia said, glancing around at the fog. "But this planet is impossible to predict."

Mira's laugh came without humor. "See you tomorrow then."

Maia didn't respond as she looked at Zeta and Atton. "Let's go. There's got to be something. Somewhere. Maybe."

Without waiting for them to respond, Maia turned and barely made it two steps before another figure swirled out of the fog in front of her. She stopped mid-stride and hardly noticed when Atton ran into her, watching the figure with narrowed eyes as it disturbed the fog. She turned to Atton over her shoulder.

"What's going on, Maia?" he asked before she could say anything.

"You didn't see…? Never mind," she said quietly.

"Is there something there?"

"I don't know."

Zeta stepped to her other side. "Don't be fooled by the fog, Maiali."

Maia glanced at her, almost sure she was telling the truth, when the figure moved again.

"No," Maia said. "No, there's something there. I can _feel_ it there."

Before either of her companions could say anything else, she went after it. She could no longer see whatever it was, but it glowed like a beacon in the Force before her, leading her somewhere. Like the valley, it was neither light nor dark. Nor was it the strange power she swore emanated from the very planet itself. This thing was more of a trace of somebody, just as she had suspected. Their essence or their soul; the only thing left once the body is gone.

"What happened here?" Maia murmured to no one.

Increasing her stride, though not quite running, she took a sharp right at the next spire. The figure was gone, but she continued on that path, the beacon drawing her through the fog.

"Um, Maia?" she heard from somewhere behind her. Ignoring it, she continued until something loomed over her. Pushing at the fog with her mind, hoping she had been led out of the valley, Maia cleared just enough to see a wall, and then a door. Glancing at the smooth rock surface broken only by the door and the worn ends of eleven wooden beams, Maia entered the building.

The first thing she noticed was the near lack of light. The next was the lack of fog. Wiping a hand over her eyes and allowing them to get used to the sudden change, she looked around, brushing her glowrod with her palm but not removing it from her belt. Part of the wooden ceiling had caved in, burying half the room, and bits of pottery were scattered hither and to across the floor. It was musty. Sniffing dust out of her nose, Maia walked to the low point of the fallen ceiling and stepped onto what was once the upper floor. Glancing at the remains of another ceiling far above her head, she scrambled up the well-preserved wood to the more even floor above.

"What is this place?" she heard Atton say from below.

"Ruins," Zeta replied.

"Well, I can see that."

Maia ignored them even as they stopped talking. Walking into another room that was separated from the first by a stone wall that rose beyond the ruined ceiling, she studied it, too, looking for anything that might tell her who had lived here. Nothing. Stepping back into the threshold, she glanced the way she had come as the other two joined her.

"Is there something here?" Zeta asked. Maia looked at her and then looked away.

"I'm not sure," she said before walking into the second room again. The floor was intact but creaked terribly with each step. Pausing in the middle, Maia looked up at a hole in the ceiling. Fog moved across the rough oculus, the sky almost completely black.

She had forgotten how fast the sun fell.

Looking back at Zeta, she continued to a door on the far side of the room and exited the building, slowly taking the descending stone steps she found there. It wasn't until she was back on the valley floor that she realized there were other buildings. Lifting her arm and displacing some of the fog, she counted three before they were covered once more. The next time she tried, the fog wouldn't move.

"Maia?" Atton said from the top of the steps. She tried once more without success.

"We'll stay here tonight," she said.

"In the creepy abandoned village?"

She looked around before responding. "Yes."

"If you're sure," he said, joining her. She glanced at him.

"I am." She looked away again. "Go find a suitable place to rest and maybe some wood. I don't think we should spend much time in the dark tonight."

"What's going on, Maia?" he asked. "You're really starting to scare me."

"I thought nothing scared you."

"Exactly, so this is kind of a big deal." He rubbed at his mouth and chin before looking around. "But seriously, if something's going on…"

"Look, Atton, I honestly can't explain what I feel. I've already told you there's something out there, but I don't know any more than that. It might leave us alone and it might come to kill us. I don't know. All I can tell you is that I won't be sleeping tonight and that I need some place I can defend." She turned to face him and grabbed the front of his jacket, forcing him to lean over her. "I also need you to trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Good." She kissed him. "Now go."

And he did. He couldn't help but do what she wanted and Atton hated himself for it.


	15. Fourteen

A/N: Ah, fog. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I know it well. I'm a night fog driving expert/wimp. Watching fog blow over trees when you're out on the island that used to be called Bay City back before the entire thing fell into the ocean about half a century ago is pretty awesome, too ;) Sorry about the delay. I don't have an excuse for it.

Oh, and the lyrics are from that Al Stewart song mentioned previously. I figure you figured that out by now, but I'll say it again anyway.

--

Chapter Fourteen

_Quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground… _

-Al Stewart

Hours had passed since the small group came to the village and in that time, two moons had risen from the eastern horizon. Though they could barely see them, their light made the fog glow, casting deep shadows.

Maia was crouching in the doorway of the small, second-story room Atton had chosen for their camp, a fire burning behind her. If she concentrated, she could see the expanse of the village square from her post, the far buildings merely shadows in the shimmering fog. They counted fourteen in all, a large, dry well marking the center of the plaza, other buildings forming concentric arcs to the south.

Atton sat behind her, warming himself by the fire, Zeta at the far wall, her cloth mask removed from her eyes so she could watch the darkness through an open window.

It was silent except for the fire and its every noise was a deafening roar. Atton jumped each time an ember popped, glancing around the room and up towards the oculus at the escaping smoke. He was nervous, they were all nervous, but he didn't have the training to calm himself as the women did, so he sat by the fire and glanced in the direction of every noise.

Nothing had moved since they entered the village, those figures Maia had seen now gone. She almost wanted another one to show up just to reassure herself that she hadn't been seeing things. Or feeling things. The strange shiver that accompanied each sighting was still sitting there between her shoulders, waiting to shoot down her spine the moment something moved through the Force.

They had explored the plaza and its surrounding alleys before setting up camp just to make sure there wasn't some creature—sentient or not—waiting for them. Maia was still unable to shake the feeling that something was out there and even when Zeta and Atton agreed that they, too, felt some kind of a presence, she tried to push it out of her mind. Maybe she was just getting to herself, paranoia dredging up memories from a war long past. She knew all too well the influence she had over others and wondered how much of what they were feeling was her doing.

So, she sat and watched and waited. If something was indeed out there, it would not escape her notice, not tonight, not on this planet.

She heard Atton stand and walk to one of the plaza windows, pushing aside a piece of burlap. In their search of the village, they had found enough fabric to cover every opening in their little outpost in order to hide the fire from the night. None were worried about the smoke considering the fog.

Leaning outside, light washing the side of his face, he glanced at Maia.

"As much as I don't want to fight whatever it is you sense out there, I think I would rather it show its pretty little face right about now," he said just loud enough to hear. "I hate waiting."

Leaning against the jamb of the door and ignoring the blossoming pain in her legs, Maia hardly listened to Atton's complaint, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to process someone else's. She shifted under the weight of the particularly heavy piece of canvas covering the door and glanced in Atton's direction, chewing on a piece of stimgum and unwrapping another.

"I can't decide if I want it show or not." She popped the gum into her mouth. "I don't even know what it is."

"Still?"

She nodded. "I think, though…" she paused. "I think this village might be its home."

"How could you possibly know that?" He furrowed his brow at her and frowned.

"I can't explain it, I just sort of know." She looked away again. Some time ago, though Maia no longer knew how long since, the fog had stopped moving. It hadn't lessened any, nor had it thickened. It was simply still. "It's almost as if the fog…" she went on, "there's something about the fog."

"Yeah, it's annoying."

She shook her head slowly. "I'm not actually sure how much of it is fog."

"The dampness begs to differ, honey." He hesitated a moment. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I don't know. It's…I…I don't know. There's something about, well, everything that feels strange. I think Zeta was close back on the ship, but rather than warring, the Force is so…it's so abundant. It's not that the light and the dark are clashing, I think, it's that all parts of the Force are present. This place is saturated with it. Even Dxun would pale in comparison."

"Why?"

She looked at him, a question on her brow. "I think you know the answer."

"You don't know. Right."

Maia pursed the corner of her mouth as she looked away. "I want to understand, Atton, I just, I've never encountered anything like this before. The Force has always been so black and white. Hmm," she sighed. "I like it being black and white."

She shifted again and rolled her shoulders, the muscles in her chest and back stretching stiffly. Glancing around the plaza once more, Maia stood slowly, her cold limbs protesting, screaming. She ignored them and pushed her way through the canvas to the little room beyond. Zeta looked up.

"I think I'm going to go take a look around out there," Maia said gesturing back towards the plaza. "I can't just sit in one spot any longer."

"Would you like assistance?" Zeta asked, not moving from the stool she was perched on. It was one of the only pieces of intact furniture in their little building, the floor littered with scraps and splinters of the rest.

"No," Maia said with a shake of her head. "No, I want to go out there on my own."

"You sure?" Atton said.

"I am. Though, if you wouldn't mind me borrowing a blaster…"

"I thought Jedi didn't like guns," he said even as he began undoing his belt to remove one of the holsters. Maia shrugged.

"Generally I wouldn't ask, but I think it might be a good idea to have more weapons than less out there." She smiled as she took the modified pistol and ran her fingers over the cool metal. It was a comforting weight in her hand and on her thigh once she strapped on the holster and Maia suddenly realized how much she missed the recoil of a gun and the feel of a good rubber grip in her hand. A blaster had been her only companion during the ten years of her exile and she wondered now what had happened to it. Probably, she thought, it had been blown to pieces along with the rest of Peragus.

She remained standing in the middle of the room a moment longer, glancing at her companions, her hand resting on the new weapon. She thought of things she could say, all of them sounding like permanent goodbyes. This wasn't where it would end. With a slight smile, she turned and pushed aside the canvas, leaving Atton and Zeta behind.

Maia didn't make it far, though, and was barely halfway down the steps when one of them came after her. Atton. She turned to look at him as he stopped one step above her.

"I don't really want to say goodbye," he said, not touching her.

"Then don't. I'll be back soon. I'm just doing a sweep of the area. Easy stuff any Padawan can do." She frowned slightly and glanced at the plaza, only turning back to him when he lifted his shoulders and looked at his hands.

"I know, but both you and Zeta are acting like this is your last stand or something and, well…"

Maia cut him off by touching his hand and shaking her head. "I'll be fine, Atton. Years of Jedi training and a few more acting like some dirty scoundrel have got to do me some good in a fight. I'm scrappy. Surely you've noticed." Her frown turned into a smile. "Don't worry about me."

Though he couldn't quite bring himself to smile as well, Atton tried as he touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers, bending over her to brush her lips with his own.

"I…" he started to say.

"Don't," Maia said. "Please don't."

She kissed him harder to make sure he wouldn't go on and lifted herself onto her toes to reach him better, her arms encircling his shoulders to pull him closer. She kissed him like she never had before, desperately wanting him to know her everything. Not once had she opened up to a person like she had to him, not to her master, not to her beloved friend. She wanted him to know that and feel it with everything that made him human and alive.

Breaking away, their faces only centimeters apart, she smiled and looked into his eyes before releasing him and spinning to take the stairs as rapidly as she could without falling and breaking her neck. Dashing off across the plaza, she didn't risk a look over her shoulder. She had no idea what waited for her in the dark, but if she turned to see him standing there on the steps, she knew she wouldn't be able to leave him behind.

What if it came for them while she was away, attracted to the fire and the smell of warm bodies rather than to her…?

She wouldn't allow herself to think about it and pressed her back against the cold wall of a building, her breath little puffs of steam. This was why Jedi didn't form attachments. If they had no one to leave behind, there would be no pain when no one was there to greet them if they ever returned.

Pushing the thought away, Maia took in a deep breath, calming herself, ridding her mind of distractions. She crouched to pick up a handful of dirt and let it sift through her fingers, concentrating on the falling particles, lulling her mind into a state of meditation. Her awareness of everything broadened and stretched to encompass the plaza, surrounding buildings, and fog that seemed now to pulse. She could feel the two of them in their little camp, Zeta more nervous than she would admit, Atton worried only for her. Neither could distract her now. She would find out what was in the fog and would not return before dawn until she did, even if there was nothing.

When the last tiny rock fell from her palm, she stood and looked around the alley she had stopped in. The buildings on either side were the tallest she had seen so far and the ground sloped away to her left, making them seem even grander. She took the hill, turning her back on the plaza, and walked slowly, still not free of the fog despite the narrowness of the place.

Coming to the corner, she glanced out into the wide boulevard beyond, her hand flexing towards Atton's blaster rather than her lightsaber, old habits returning, but there was nothing except more fog. She scowled and wiped dew from her face wanting little more than to be dry, the weight of the moisture finding its way through her simple clothing. Back on the ship, she had forgone a robe for a heavy shawl wrapped around her shoulders and Maia wished now that she had made a different decision. Still, she did not remove the shawl and pulled it up over her mouth and nose instead, hoping to trap some heat from her breath, the night cold, the fog colder.

A shiver ran down her spine and she glanced over her shoulder, something moving in the corner of her eye. When she turned fully, however, there was nothing, the air completely still. She squinted, pushing at the fog with her mind and was only able to move a small amount of it. Something was resisting her, pushing back at her, and she wondered what it could be. She began searching the depth of her memory in an attempt to bring up some long forgotten lesson from her childhood. The answer was there somewhere; she just didn't know where to find it.

Looking around, Maia began to walk up the center of the boulevard. She couldn't see where it ended, buildings looming out of the fog as she went, each of the same curious architecture as the first building they had found. They were mere shadows in the glowing fog, their details obscured, but Maia could see enough to know they had the same wooden beams protruding from what appeared to be solid rock, and she began to wonder not for the first time who had lived here and why they left. Most of the buildings were filled with wreckage of what had once been peoples' lives. Others were empty of all things.

When nothing revealed itself and no more fog swirled into the figures of men, Maia ducked into one of the buildings, illuminating her glowrod and flashing it around the room. She wasn't looking for any relic in particular as much as she was looking for something, anything, that might reveal who had lived here. Frowning and about to leave, Maia's light fell on a small doll half buried under a fallen wardrobe. Crossing the room and crouching, she scooped it into her palm and flipped it over, stroking the soft fabric. It was a simple little thing, hand-sewn and well-loved. One of the tiny button eyes was missing from the smiling face, its stuffing matted and old. She didn't think about how wondrous it was that this toy had survived and instead stood, gripping the doll lightly before tucking it into her belt. Glancing around once more, hoping for anything that might reveal the village's origin, Maia stepped back into the street, but not before something caught her shawl.

She jumped and turned back to the building, stepping back once, twice, her eyes wide, her brain searching for a reasonable explanation.

Fog settled in front of her though no wind had blown.

_The jamb_, she thought, panicked. She must have caught herself on the splintered jamb. There was nothing else there, not in the Force, not standing before her. Creasing her brow, she put a hand on her blaster and hastened away down the boulevard.

--

Atton watched the plaza after she left, his arms around his body to stave off the cold and the wet. He didn't pine simply because Atton Rand didn't pine, but he did want to go after her. Anything would be better than sitting around here with Zeta waiting for some creature to come and kill him. For all he knew, Zeta was the creature Maia feared. He turned to look at the canvas that separated him from the Chiss woman, scowling.

"What makes you so special?" he asked the fabric, staring it down in lieu of the woman the question was directed at. It fluttered as if in response and Atton's eyes widened until a hand pushed the canvas to the side and Zeta stepped out onto the landing.

"I'm not special," she said. "Merely average."

He sneered. "Maia seems to think you're something great."

A smile crossed Zeta's lips slowly, her glowing eyes absorbing the light of the moons. "She's entitled to her opinion, as are you. I'm not trying to be anything I'm not already and Maiali seems to appreciate that in me." She looked him up and down.

"I wouldn't go down that road if I were you, sister."

"What road?" she asked.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know how you know anything about me, but I've got some ideas." He narrowed his eyes and gave her a hard stare.

Her brow simply rose into damp bangs. "I assure you, you're wrong."

"We used to have a Sith on our ship and I've gotten damn good at picking them out of the crowd since. I've always been good at it." Atton straightened his shoulders as if trying to gain height on her, but the heel of her boot, slight though it was, gave her the advantage he wanted.

"I am no Sith," she said, her voice low. "I would fall on my sword before failing myself, my masters, and my academy by stooping so low. I am not a murderer." Her lips twitched. "So what are you, now?"

Atton shook his head. "I think you're mistaking me for someone else."

"I am not," she said, looking directly into his eyes. Visually he couldn't tell where she was looking, but he knew. He began thinking of numbers, sex, and pazaak, his old tricks, but she managed to push past them, her influence like cold fingers raking the inside of his skull.

"What the hell are you looking for?" he said, thinking harder. She frowned, suddenly blocked and Atton barked his triumph. "You can't get into my head for long, Sith."

"Do not call me that, please," she said, her voice steady. "Forcing me to repeat myself is a waste of everyone's time."

"It's not like we're doing anything worthwhile," Atton said with a snort, turning away.

"You are mistaken…" she paused. "I'm not quite sure what name to call you." He shot a look over his shoulder, but Zeta only went on. "She has a lot more to offer this galaxy and I will not let anyone step in her way, least of all you."

Atton turned to look at her again. "Excuse me?"

"Maiali Tal has a destiny greater than all of us combined."

"You're a few months late, there, sorry."

Zeta laughed. "No, she has more to give. Much more and she will have to make sacrifices along the way, shedding herself of all things. Will you be the first she gives up?"

"Who do you think you are to know anything about Maia?" He stepped around her and away from the stone balustrade. "You come walking into her life and very quickly become the most important person she has ever known because you have a little information about Revan and the Sith. When will the lies end?"

"I'm not lying about Revan and wouldn't have told her that I would be able to find her friend if I didn't know where she was."

"How the hell do you know where Revan is?" His eyes narrowed dangerously as he stepped towards the woman, pleased when she stepped away from him. She may have the height, but he had the physical strength and could easily overpower her if he was quick enough.

"I know because I know things," she said.

"No," Atton said, holding up a finger. "No."

"What would you have me tell you, then?"

"The truth would do nicely."

She laughed again. "The truth would shatter your mind."

"So you have been lying."

"No," she said. "I am not the one who has been lying."

"What?" They had advanced to the very top of the steps, now. Atton didn't know what he planned on doing but unlike Maia, he wasn't afraid of what might happen. She claimed to be different from the rest of the Jedi because of her exile, but he watched her time and again stick to the code that had been engrained into her mind as a child. She thought she knew how to fight dirty, and maybe compared to the rest of them she did, but Atton had been raised on the streets and had gone back to the streets after his stint in the military. He knew how to survive.

"Maiali likes to see the good in everyone," she started, "Maia—"

But that was as far as she got before she went flying backwards down the stairs. Atton didn't move a muscle, not a twitch of his cheek or a squint of his eye, though suddenly thinking that he wanted her as far away as possible. And there she went.

Zeta skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairway looking up at him, her eyes two slivers of red. She gripped at the dirt in what Atton perceived as pain and he stared first at her and then at his hands. Had that been him? He denied the Force and would ignore it completely if not for his companions. Even then, he tried as hard as he could to forget this thing that flowed through all life, binding him to Maia and everyone else. He didn't want it. He had never wanted it. Not from Revan, not from that Jedi woman, not from Maia.

Dropping his hands, he drew his remaining pistol and advanced down the stairs, his blaster trained on Zeta, who only stared at him, most likely dazed from her fall. He watched her blink several times as he walked across the dirt to stand over her, just out of reach.

"I don't know why she trusts you," he said. "I don't understand it and it's only for her sake that I'm not going to shoot you dead where you lay. Still," he said, crouching next to her and flipping the blaster in his hand, "don't think you're getting off that easy. Nighty-night, Druao'zet'akuoani."

With a grin, he slammed her in the temple with the butt of his weapon and didn't wait to watch her fall back into the dirt, unconscious, before standing and taking the same path Maia had, hoping to find her before anything else did.


	16. Fifteen

_A/N - Thanks, everyone, for reading! This is one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you all enjoy it, too. _

--

Chapter Fifteen

_  
And all that I ever was able to see  
The eyes of the city are opening now _

_It's the end of the dream._

-Al Stewart

Maia jogged through the empty streets without paying attention to where she was going. Having left the boulevard some time ago, the little doll still tucked against her waist, she darted through narrow alleys and wider streets. More than once, she scaled a short wall, not willing to double back upon encountering a dead end. She wanted to draw out whatever was creeping around in the fog and wouldn't stop short of shouting at and insulting whatever it was if it came down to it. If only for her own sanity, at this point, she had to find it, knowing that the fog that moved without wind would drive her mad if she didn't.

Pausing in the middle of a street near the south end of the village, Maia looked around. Here the wooden beams crossed between the buildings above her, debris caught on top of them, long dead, wiry vines hanging from their height and shielding her from the fog. It still crept around her ankles, though, slowly moving over the ground and hovering in the corners.

The vines grew in density the further she walked and though it would be nearly impossible to see any sort of movement in here, she did not quicken her pace. It was hard enough to move, concentrating as she was, that Maia could hardly imagine dashing around the vines and over the slick cobblestones. She tripped, she slipped, she caught herself from falling by grabbing handfuls of the dead plant life. She was exhausted. But there were no more diverging streets unless she turned back and she couldn't do that, not until she explored everything.

Maia's focus started to narrow even further as she pushed the vines out of her face, watching for any movement ahead of her or to either side, impossible though it seemed. She was so intent on finding something that moved, in fact, that she forgot to pay attention to where she was stepping and her foot slid out from under her on the slippery stone. Pitching sideways, Maia caught herself on outstretched arms before she could slam into the ground, her ankle twisting painfully. She cried out and cursed. The darkness spun in front of her eyes.

She remained where she was for a length, her arms straight, her scraped palms bleeding, before trying to right herself as well as she could. It felt as if half her leg was stuck in something. A hole, probably.

Glancing around, she bent over her knee and ran a hand down her leg to see if she couldn't pull herself free, without luck. Her foot was hopelessly trapped. She tried next to remove the boot, but the critical fastenings were unreachable along with her foot. Frowning, Maia crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, shoot," she said, speaking for the first time since leaving her friends. She thought about attempting to use her lightsaber to cut her foot free, but figured she would lose half the appendage if she tried, the angle being what it was.

Maia was about to redouble her efforts when something moved in the corner of her eye, the fog parting as if that something was standing next to her. But when she turned that way it was nothing. The fog settled back into place, slowly bobbing. Maia eyed the ground and when nothing else happened, she released the breath she had been holding.

"Great," she muttered. "Of all the things I needed to do to get its attention."

Grabbing her leg, Maia pulled to no avail. She pulled again, and again, and would have tried once more had the doll not fallen from her belt. A shiver shot down her spine as she released her leg and turned that way. There was something in the vines; she just couldn't see where it stood. Glancing around, she turned to stare at the toy where it lay in the street and touched it with the tip of one finger.

A nervous laugh escaped her lips; she almost expected it to shock her or worse. Withdrawing, Maia looked around again, but there was nothing there, just like always.

And then her sight doubled. She shook her head and blinked several times, only to see bright stars dance before her eyes. Something screamed through the back of her mind like a banshee. Holding her head, she took in several deep breaths, suddenly nauseous.

It moaned.

It scraped against the cobblestone in the distance.

Maia forced her eyes open, but the night was too dark to see by, the moons hidden from her behind the fog and the debris above her head. Spots still ruined her vision.

It grunted. And Maia suddenly forgot about the ghosts and the figures in the fog.

_Hssiss?_ Her heart fluttered in alarm. Her head and her sight cleared.

She turned one more glance over her other shoulder before trying to wiggle her foot free, jerking wildly as her frustration and panic grew. It had gotten in there, which meant, logically, it had to come back out. The ankle wasn't broken, just fixed in place and unwilling to move.

Another ten minutes went by without much hope of freedom or movement in the vines. Whatever was out there had fallen silent. And whatever was in her head still cried, softly now. Tears streaked her face, though she didn't know it.

She pushed at her frazzled, damp hair and was on the verge of reaching for her lightsaber, no longer concerned about the foot. She would rather risk lose the limb than face a hssiss from this position. She could fight without her leg; she could climb to safety. She wouldn't become the creature's prey, ripped apart fiber by fiber…

Maia laughed at herself—a nervous rattle in her throat—unsure of how she had reached such a level of desperation so quickly. It wasn't like her. She was rational. She was Jedi. She didn't even know if one of those monsters was out there, hunting her.

She didn't know if any of this was real.

Still, her fingers twitched towards the weapon. She had met a prosthetics dealer in her years of exile and knew he would give her a good deal on a replacement. _Why am I doing this?_

It moved behind her.

Drawing the blaster from her trapped leg instead of her lightsaber and turning at the waist, she held the weapon up, steadying her arm in the direction of the noise, her panic settling in the pit of her stomach. Whatever was in the vines paused as Maia, too, fell absolutely still, her chest hardly moving with each shallow breath. She squinted through the hair in her eyes, willing the shadow to continue towards her and hoping without much conviction that it wasn't a monster. There was no way she would be able to fight from her compromised position.

It didn't exist in the Force…

Maia turned off the safety with a deafening _click_.

The vines began to move again and Maia figured she had startled it. She cursed herself and glanced up as one of the moons broke from behind its shade. And though the debris over her head almost completely blocked out the light, the vines obscuring the rest and making it almost impossible to see, she happened to be in a moonbeam.

_All the better to see me by_, Maia thought. _Convenient._

As it continued to approach, Maia gave up on standing still, convinced now that it had spotted her. Pulling at the trapped foot with the strength of her entire body, Maia grunted, tugging desperately. This was not how she imagined dying.

Her mind flashed with the laughter of her friends, a bitter taste rising in her throat as she remembered Malachor. That was where she should have died, there in a pool of her own blood. Or maybe by the hand of Koldt or in the harsh winds of Hoth fighting the Sith who dared ruin the peace she had brought to the galaxy. Perhaps, she thought, she should have died on Dxun twelve years ago or on Naboo a year later when she overcame all odds only to end the war a week after that. Those should have been her death, not here. Not like this.

She drew in a sharp breath and glanced up, her eyes flashing in the dim light.

It was close.

Finally ignoring her foot for good, Maia straightened, blaster in hand. She figured that it was better to face death head on rather than get caught off guard. Jedi never got caught off guard. Furrowing her brow and still unable to get any sort of reading through the Force, though she tried now, Maia felt her finger twitch on the trigger the moment she thought about pulling off a shot. The shadow ducked under the bolt as it flew through the darkness, illuminating everything.

"Oh, hell," she muttered.

"Oh hell is right," Atton said, closing the distance between them. She looked up as he put his hands on his waist. "You should think twice before shooting in the dark."

"You shouldn't close yourself completely out of the Force when wandering around on the trail of a Jedi. In the dark." She holstered the blaster. "We don't take kindly to things not being where they should be. In the dark."

He frowned and held her gaze, not bothering to crouch in front of her. "I'm not doing anything with the Force."

Maia lifted her brow. "Whatever," she said, not in the mood to argue with him. "Look, can you help me out of here or what?"

"Yeah, I was about to say something about that," he said as he took a step back. "You're not the kind of girl to kneel in thanks."

"That was unnecessarily crude."

"I didn't mean a thing by it." Still, he smiled. "So, what'd you manage to do?"

"Make an ass out of myself," she muttered. "And catch my foot in a hole."

"Not very Jedi-like behavior there, honey," he said, kneeling. "What if something else managed to find you first?"

"That's why I shot you."

"Hmm," was all he said.

She watched him while he inspected her leg even as the Force swelled around her, the first something joined by more. There was no way to tell where they were, now, and Maia began to suspect they were everywhere. The pooling panic fluttered up her throat.

"Say," she said as she looked at the fog. Atton just illuminated his glowrod, his brow furrowing. "Where's Zeta?"

"Back at the camp," he replied. "Didn't much feel like getting up to join in on the rescue. Did you even look at what's going on down here?"

"Of course I did. What kind of helpful answer is that? I'm in a hole and I need you to help me out of it."

He looked at her and shook his head slowly. "You're not in any kind of a hole, Maia."

She looked right back at him. "Of course I'm in a hole."

Something stirred behind them.

"No, you're not." He stood up again. "You're just on your knees."

"This is a pointless argument," she said, reaching for her foot. "I know what I felt. The fog must be playing…" Her hand hit solid cobblestone. At the same time, pain shot up her thigh and into her hip from kneeling on the uneven surface. "What the hell?"

She looked down at her leg and clearly saw the lack of a hole. Working her jaw, Maia couldn't find the words to properly express her confusion. Her mind reeled; something screamed, though she couldn't tell if it was in her head or outside of it.

"Are you feeling okay?" Atton asked as he offered his hand to help her up. She took it with a certain amount of caution and got unsteadily to her feet.

"I don't know," she said, her voice hushed. "I know my foot was stuck. I put my hand in the hole."

He pushed a little curl across her forehead only to watch it fall right back into place.

"How long has it been since you slept? And I mean proper sleep." He pushed at the curl again, his fingers brushing her skin. They were warm even in the cold air. "You spent most of the other night muttering about something."

She just shook her head and took her hand from his. "I don't hallucinate."

"I would beg to differ considering what just went down."

She didn't say anything, though, as she wrapped her arms around her body and turned slowly to the right. Eventually, she said, "There's something here."

"You've been saying that for awhile now without any proof." He stepped towards her. "Let's just find some place to sleep, okay?"

"I shouldn't need proof," she snapped. "Reach into the Force, Atton, and you'll feel it lurking on the very edge of your consciousness." She caught his scowl. "I know that you're reluctant to hone your potential, but there's no one saying that you must become a Jedi the moment you open yourself to the Force. Think of it only as another way to live. You needn't learn how to brandish a sword or follow a code like Mical, Zeta, and me. Just be aware of your surroundings."

"I'm plenty aware," he said even as something scraped against the stone, making him jump. Maia turned that way and drew her blaster again, leveling it at the fog.

"I don't think that's going to do much more than burn up a bit of the moisture," Atton went on the say, doing the same and shrugging at the look Maia gave him.

"It's not fog," she said as she squeezed the trigger. The bolt lit up the area in a flash, revealing the growing fog around them. It had risen from the ground to touch the beams above their heads. It passed between them, obscuring Maia from Atton and Atton from Maia though they were close. It flowed with the oxygen into their lungs and through their bodies. Maia could feel it in her toes.

"I know you're out there!" she yelled at the darkness. Something swirled in front of her and rather than shooting, she threw the blaster to one side and unsheathed her sword. Activating the weapon and flourishing it once, a great circle of vines fell to her feet.

Nothing. The light cast by her blade revealed nothing. Wind hissed above their heads without touching the fog.

"Damn it!" she cried, turning slowly, her lightsaber held wide, her hands open to the sky. "You've got my attention. That's what you want, isn't it? You need me to acknowledge you? I'm right here. Show me."

She could feel Atton watching her, his uncertainty almost as thick as the fog. She didn't look at him, though, and turned back down the street. Calling on the Force, she reached out with her free hand and tore the vines from the beams, watching them as they fell. Across from her, they spiraled slowly before falling to the ground.

_Jeedii_… It came on the wind. _Jee-edii_… It was a strange double echo in her ear. Maia shivered.

"I'm here," she said, deactivating her blade. "What do you want from me?"

Silence. Maia turned a look over her shoulder to see how Atton was reacting but his focus was on something in front of them. He wasn't seeing her.

A strange prickle crawled up her spine then. She arched her back to get away from it and turned to the fog before her. Something else was moving towards them; another shadow advancing up the street; tall and dark, its eyes glowing red.

Zeta.

"I told you," Atton whispered. "I told you she was no good."

"No," Maia said. Zeta was stumbling, staggering first to one side and then to the other. She wasn't looking at them or at anything else for that matter as she stopped a meter in front of Maia, her head rolling to the side.

"Jedi," she said in a voice that was both her own and someone else's. The wind echoed in time to the world. The fog spiraled behind her.

"Zeta?" Maia asked. "What's wrong?"

"We are not…Zeta," the voices struggled to say. "We are not…" pain stabbed through Maia's brain "…Maiali Tal."

"What…" Maia said, narrowing her eyes against the intrusion. "What are you?"

"We are those who…came before." Zeta's head rolled to the other side.

"Who came before?" Maia said, searching her brain. She knew little of Korriban's history, other than the presence of the Sith. They had evolved on this planet, hadn't they? That's what she had always been led to believe. Who had come first…? She didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"_Mithra'hii_…" The word echoed on the wind, on Zeta's tongue, and through Maia's mind, a chorus of voices. She felt herself say it, she heard Atton say it. It was beautiful, breathy, and rolled her tongue front to back, a word so sweet she rejoiced in its very sound. "This is our home."

"Mithra'hii," Maia repeated, tasting the name. The beating heart of the planet quickened.

"Mithra'hii," Zeta's mouth said again.

Pain blossomed behind her eyes and Maia furrowed her brow as it went deeper to take what it needed. She was helpless against it, against them, and could only watch as the fog spiraled and danced behind Zeta. "You're what's in the fog. What I've been searching for."

Zeta's head lolled. "We are the fog."

"What?"

"The Jedi brought war to us…frightened by what we could do and what they…could not. Fire rained down from above, terrible Jedi who convinced the galaxy their genocide was righteous." The word echoed as other voices joined the one that guided Zeta's. "Righteous Jedi who justified killing our children…our civilians who could wield no Force of their own. We linger…"

Zeta's arm moved in a lazy gesture. "We will always linger."

"Are you Sith, then?" Maia said, looking around at the fog. "Jedi wouldn't have attacked you otherwise. We don't kill out of jealousy." It swirled. "What makes you think you didn't deserve it? What evils did you do to deserve it?"

The fog swelled into more distinct figures that just as quickly dissipated back into nothingness. Atton caught her sleeve. A warning.

"We are not Sith." The echoing voices overrode Zeta's, though her jaw still worked to say the words. "We are Mithra'hii. We are storytellers and soothsayers. We are…minstrels," Zeta's mouth said. "We are not sin."

"I've never heard of the Mithra'hii," Maia replied, the word still beautiful on her tongue. "It sounds like a Sith trick to me."

"We are not Sith." Even Zeta's voice sounded angry, what little of it Maia could hear.

"Don't bait them," Atton said in her ear.

"Ignorant Jedi," Zeta continued to say for them. "Your people indoctrinated the children they did not kill…made the galaxy forget. They forgot. We…did not."

_Murderer_… went the wind.

"We can no longer sing."

_Jee-edii_…

Maia watched both Zeta and the fog. The woman's eyes were open but unfocused; they looked at nothing and everything. They glowed fiercely here in this darkened place and Maia wondered why they chose to speak through her and to use her voice as theirs, for the Mithra'hii had a voice. She could hear it there under and over Zeta's, a strange language that was almost Basic; spoken like an opera is sung. It filled Maia with a strange power and tingled in her fingers like sparkling heat. Not the dark side. Something more. Something raw. Constrained. And so utterly powerful.

She wanted it.

Closing her hands into fists, Maia took in a breath and shook hair out of her face. The wet curls stuck to her forehead and cheeks and hung limp around her shoulders; dirt was smeared across her pale skin. She wanted out. She wanted to know why.

She was afraid.

"You guided me here," she said. "Why?"

"We guided you nowhere," they replied. "We merely…stopped you. We have little power of our own." Even as they said it, Zeta stumbled to the side, her legs hardly supporting her as she stood there in front of them. "You came on your own. You must…always come on your own."

"My foot," Maia whispered.

_Yes_… the wind hissed.

"You made me feel things."

"Yes," Zeta's mouth said. "We are very good at making people believe what we…want them to…believe. We are storytellers. We are…minstrels. _We are not sin_."

The fog seemed to take a shuttering breath. The terrible pulse of the planet thudded in Maia's chest. "The Sith," Zeta told for them, a deeper hatred rumbling through the earth, "the Sith seek…something they will not find here. You seek it, too."

"The weapon."

"Yes. A weapon. They think it is us." Zeta's laugh was made terrible as the entire planet echoed it back. "We are nothing so beautiful."

Maia rubbed at her temples, the pain penetrating down her spine now as they drove deeper into her mind and branched along every nerve in her body. She had never felt something so wonderful and horrible at the same time. Every part of her was alive and aware and she could see them now standing before her, men and women, a girl child standing next to her, touching her hip, reaching for the doll where it lay abandoned. Atton was nowhere to be seen and a beacon of light floated where Zeta stood. The fog was little more than a haze.

"Stop them, Maiali," they implored. "We have reached into their minds and know what they intend. Stop them because we cannot. Stop them to save your friends and the Force. Stop them," they said as Zeta reappeared, her mouth moving for theirs, "because we are not done being forgotten.

"_Soothsayer_…" Their echo softened. "Remember, little Jedi… _Mithra'hii_."

Zeta collapsed at the same moment the pain in Maia's head subsided. The fog remained in their wake, empty. It was nothing more than just fog.

"Maia," Atton said, his hand still on her elbow. "What the hell was that?"

She looked at him. "A scar," she whispered.

"What?" But Maia ignored him as she went to kneel by Zeta's side. She pushed hair across the young woman's forehead, sweat mixed with the fog's dampness on her dark skin.

"I wonder why they chose her," she said, resting her elbows on her knees, "or how they were even able to control her if they have no power of their own."

"You got me there," Atton said. Maia turned a look on him, her eyes narrowing. He just shrugged. "I left her back at the camp. Who knows what went down after I left. Maybe she let it happen. Maybe she's one of them."

"They're dead, Atton."

She allowed her eyes to linger on him for a moment longer before turning back to Zeta just as the other woman made a small grunting noise in the back of her throat, regaining consciousness. She blinked her strange eyes several times before they came to focus first on Maia's face and then on the beams beyond.

"Where am I?"

"A long way from the camp," Maia said. "The trace of a people called Mithra'hii used you to speak to us."

A flicker crossed Zeta's face, her eyes widening. She sat up quickly. "What did you say?"

"Some long dead race of Force-users decided to use you as their voice." Maia frowned. "I know it sounds weird but unless Atton and I are both going crazy, which is entirely possible…"

"No, no, I believe you. I'm just…surprised. Who did you say they were?"

"The Mithra'hii. I've never heard of them before."

Zeta mouthed the name and stood, wiping her hands together as she looked around. She was still unsteady on her feet.

"Do you know who they are?" Maia asked, standing as well. She could see the muscles in Zeta's jaw tighten. "They claim to have been forgotten, though, honestly, I don't know how they would know if they're all dead."

"They haven't been," Zeta said quietly. "At least not by everyone. Nothing is ever completely forgotten. I've told you that before."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Zeta remained silent as she studied the fog. Maia opened her mouth to ask again, the seed of suspicion budding at the base of her skull, but Zeta cut her off.

"We should leave this place," she said. "The weapon isn't here, just them. Mithra'hii." She said it as they had said it, wispy and songlike.

Atton came to stand next to Maia and said, "I thought you didn't remember anything about what just happened."

"I didn't say that," Zeta replied, not looking at him. Her head jerked slightly. "I can't recall words so much as emotions. Hate. Anger. Humor. I do know, however, that the Mithra'hii want us out. I could feel their hands at my back and sense that their hatred for the Jedi pales in comparison to their hatred for the Sith. They would not help you unless it meant hurting them."

Atton wasn't satisfied. "How do you know that?"

"They were in my head and used my tongue. I may not know their words, but I am sure of their intentions."

Maia nodded slowly. "We should leave as swiftly as possible, then, and head for Raxus Prime."

"You know for sure that it's there?" Atton asked.

"No, but the Sith have built a weapon there before and they might do it again." She turned away from him. "The sun will be rising soon and with it, hopefully, the fog will burn off." She knelt to retrieve the doll from the cobblestone street and held it in her palm, the memory of the little girl still fresh in her mind. Gripping the toy and holding it to her chest, she glanced at her companions. "We should rest until dawn. We'll never be able to find our way back right now."

"As you wish," Zeta said.

Maia smiled at her. "I think we deserve that much at least. You most of all."

Zeta's eyes slid to Atton, who looked away. If Maia noticed the exchange, she chose not to acknowledge it and, instead, turned away from the other two in order to find a suitable hole to wait out the remainder of the night in. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep, but that hardly mattered so long as she was out of the fog.


	17. Sixteen

_A/N: So, as luck would have it, I lost the original version of this chapter when my computer chose to eat it alive. I was, of course, backing up the story when I discovered it was gone (the beginning of chapter 23 had also disappeared, but that was easily rectifiable since it was only a couple of paragraphs.) Ugh. I almost started crying. Luckily, I had read the chapter about a million times so I could remember exact quotes and paragraphs when I started to rewrite it, along with full conversations and actions. Yay…? Oh and sorry about being lax on updating. I started taking a class and working full-time (back at the place that laid me off...) all within a couple of weeks and it's been tough to adjust. But here it is. I like this chapter...  
_

--

Chapter Sixteen

They were silent the entire way back to the ship, Maia contemplating the little doll in her hand, her mind working to trust her senses about what had happened over the previous night. It had seemed simple enough in the minutes before she had fallen asleep, but when she woke up to a watery dawn the next morning, her brain didn't want to accept the people in the fog as real.

How could they have possibly spoken to her? Ghosts didn't exist.

She thought about it as they climbed out of the valley and all the way through to the lounge of her ship where she met the others. They were sitting around the dejarik board drinking caf, each bleary eyed as though they hadn't slept much the previous night. Mical was the first to greet her.

"Something happened," he said, handing her a fresh cup of the caf. Maia held it to her nose without taking a sip.

"A lot happened," she replied quietly. Turning from her Padawan, she caught Atton's eye. "Get us off this planet."

"To Raxus Prime?"

Maia glanced at Zeta, who nodded once, before Maia went on. "Yes, after the weapon. I'm sure it's there." She went on to say, "But don't go there directly. Drop at least twice into dark space. I don't want anyone following us."

"Why? The Sith don't know we're here." He crossed his arms and leaned against the galley counter, watching Zeta though he spoke to Maia. The Chiss woman returned his wary staring with a little too much disinterest. Maia noticed the exchange but chose to ignore it. She would ask them later about what had happened in her absence.

"Do you know that for sure, Atton?" she went on to say.

He just pressed his lips together. "I still think it's a waste of time."

"So you have something better to do." It wasn't a question.

Atton narrowed his eyes and didn't respond as he walked past her for the cockpit, glaring at Zeta where she stood leaning against the doorjamb. Maia watched him go before turning back to her friends. Zeta disappeared into the confines of the ship the moment Maia looked away. No one seemed to notice.

Sitting down, Maia put the doll and cup on the table and her chin in her hand. She looked at her remaining friends with a sigh and began relating the events of the night, curious if they had experienced the same. As it turned out, Mical, Mira, and Bao-Dur had seen nothing but fog.

"And more fog," Mira went on. "It ruined my hair."

Maia patted her hand. "Let's never go back to that god-forsaken planet again, okay?"

"Won't have to fight me on that, babe."

Maia smiled lightly and held her mug in both hands, swirling its contents, still without taking a sip. Lifting it slowly, she began inspecting the glazing, chipping at a piece of dirt with her thumbnail and sighing. She kept at it until the silence grew too thick.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mical asked, watching Maia closely.

She put the mug to her lips to take a mouthful of the cooling caf as if avoiding his question, watching him over the opposite lip, squinting slightly.

"I'll be fine," she said upon swallowing.

Still, he frowned. "I just wish I could have been there to help you."

"It's not like we were fighting off an endless stream of Sith. Not this time anyway." She put the mug down and crossed her arms on the table, leaning into them, scrutinizing Mical.

He didn't look away. "I could have helped you decipher—"

"Their message was rather clear, Padawan," Maia said, cutting him off. "Kill them before they kill everyone else. I got it. No need for your insight on the matter."

Mical looked taken aback. She never called him that. Maia, however, just turned back to Mira, ignoring her student further. "I really hate that place."

"Not enough people," the other woman said, her eyes flickering to Mical and back. "…real people."

Maia allowed a tight smile.

"Yes, I suppose you would die of inattention before you would hypothermia."

Mira just shrugged and downed the rest of her caf as if giving herself an excuse to leave the table. She crossed the room in two steps and poured herself a little more caf, lingering there before turning back around and regarding the others. Leaning against the spot that Atton had abandoned, she sipped from her mug and studied Maia for a length.

"There's something you're not telling us," she said, flinching under Maia's stare as it turned her way. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pry," Mira went on quickly. "I just thought I would say that. I'm just here to make sure someone else doesn't steal my bounty, remember? I'm just…" she paused to gesture to the two men. "_We're_ worried about you, hon."

Maia glanced at them before turning her gaze back to the little doll. "Don't be," she said quietly. "I won't get you guys into too much trouble."

"It's not us we're worried about." Mira put her mug in the sink and stepped away from the counter. "I got a few things to do in the garage. Bao?"

The Zabrak nodded once but didn't stand up right away. Laying a hand on Maia's arm, he tightened his grip until she looked up at him. He spoke softly. "I've seen this look in your eye before, General, and I don't think I need to point out when. I applauded your martyrdom then…" he paused and furrowed his brow without looking away, "I don't know if I can do it again."

Maia turned her eyes to the table once more, tears springing to her eyes. Her old friend didn't have a lot to say to her these days and she didn't blame him for that—she had become somewhat self-absorbed since Zeta had joined them, but she hadn't expected anything like this. She knew she would have to leave them, but she had meant to make the break clean. If she just left in the middle of the night, they would be able to forgive her quickly, but if she left them wounded and mad…? She didn't want to think about it.

Sighing once, Maia picked up the Mithra'hii doll and ran her thumb over its face, hearing a matching sigh from Bao-Dur as he and Mical slid off the bench to join Mira in the garage, waves of his pain and frustration breaking up against the mental walls Maia had been building in the past months.

_It's for the best_, she told herself without conviction. A tear slid down her cheek, taking with it the grime of Korriban.

--

Atton spent his time charting their various courses to Raxus Prime, muttering under his breath about this and that and completely oblivious to the conversation in the lounge. He had to focus on what he was doing and threw up his mental defenses, not wanting any kind of intrusion. Microjumps were a terrible strain on their hyperdrive and the poor engine needed as much love as it could get despite the fact that it was running smoother these days thanks to his care. It was an unnecessary strain on the ship, he grumbled to himself. No one had seen them come and go. Still, he wasn't about to go back on Maia's orders.

After setting off another handful of decoys out of habit before making the final jump, Atton sat back and stared at the console for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with his time. Nothing that involved any sort of work, that was for sure. Rifle maintenance could wait, as could repairs that Bao-Dur would most likely get to first. A smile crossed his lips. Why spend any time doing menial tasks when he had the Zabrak to do them for him? He chuckled as he stood to leave the cockpit.

Wandering down the corridor, his hands in his pockets, Atton began to whistle to himself. It was something they used to play in the bars back on Nar Shaddaa that he had recently caught Maia listening to in the garage. It wasn't a very good song, which was something he had immediately pointed out to Maia before commenting on her poor taste in music in general. All he had received in return was a scathing look and loud somewhat tuneless singing.

And though he hoped that Maia would be there to hear him whistling the song now, the lounge was empty by the time he showed up, everybody off doing their own thing in their own corner of the ship, which was just fine by Atton after he thought about it for a moment. This way he could putt around as he saw fit without anyone telling him what they thought he should be doing. That being the case, he went from the tepid caf to his pazaak deck to the ice box in the small galley looking for food. Maybe he would just eat and sleep to fill the time. It certainly sounded appealing.

He was just inspecting something that resembled stew when someone entered the lounge behind him, bringing with them a certain kind of malice and calm that could only belong to one of his shipmates; Zeta. He sneered and tossed the container back into the icebox before closing his arms over his chest and leaning against the appliance, looking her up and down.

"Come back for more?"

Zeta shook her head. "I haven't the desire to fight, Atton."

"So you've chosen a name, I see."

She didn't respond. Atton didn't care.

"Though I still haven't figured out how you've managed to figure out crap about me," he went on. "Nobody but the Sith should have any kind of dirt, which only gives me more convincing evidence that you're one of them and not some Jedi like Maia seems to think you are. I've done a damn good job covering my ass for the last seven years. Not even I could have tracked me down, let alone some…woman." He looked her up and down before crossing the room to take a seat on one of the couches. Propping his legs up on the dejarik board, he put his hands behind his head. Zeta's only response was a frown at the insult. It made him smile. "I like the way you clam up whenever I mention your associations. There's no better way to show guilt."

"I wouldn't admit anything to you, pilot, considering your prejudice. I'm not an imbecile." Still her fists clenched at her sides. His smile widened.

"I'd be more inclined to believe you if we weren't jetting around the galaxy hunting Sith and looking for a Sith super weapon. It's a little suspicious." He gave a dismissive flip of his hand and glanced at the ceiling.

"Yet it's the exact same thing you were doing eight months ago." She didn't move from where she stood in the middle of the lounge, her hands trembling slightly, her lightsaber still strapped to her back. "That's a long time before I joined the crew."

"I also didn't think we had some Sith witch on board the ship looking for revenge." He shrugged. "Twenty-twenty hindsight might actually do me some good this time 'round." His gaze turned back to her in an almost lazy manner. This was fun, he began to think. It had been a long time since he had used his Jedi baiting techniques and he had almost forgotten how good he was at it. Almost. But rather than the disgust that normally accompanied thoughts of his former life, a thrill ran through him, his heart beating a little faster than normal. Exposing Zeta would be his greatest victory.

She lifted her brow, as if aware of his excitement. Atton reined his emotions in, not wanting to give himself away. Zeta said, "But if I were Sith, don't you think she would accept me? It's no big secret what goes on between the two of you behind closed doors."

A growl rumbled through his chest. "Our relationship has nothing to do with you. I left them far behind."

"Right, because you desert things."

"Look, Sith," he snapped, pointing at her, "don't turn this around and make it about me. My loyalties are clear as day. Yours, on the other hand…"

"Don't," she said softly.

He narrowed his eyes at her and, if Atton were closer, he would see how Zeta was beginning to quake. The ship wasn't cold enough to evoke such a strong reaction to temperature and, even if it were, the young woman still wore the heavy leather jacket she had put on to stave off the chill of the planet. No, Zeta was angry and obviously trying to contain it. Her efforts weren't working very well.

"Why the hell not?"

She flexed her fists slowly. "I have asked you time and again to not call me Sith, yet you persist like a child. They are dirty, vile creatures that enslaved my people once and destroyed everything we worked to protect. I can no longer tolerate your insults. I am not sin."

"What'd you say?" Atton sat up and dropped his feet to the floor, suddenly wary. But Zeta wasn't looking at him anymore. Her eyes were closed, her breathing deep, and Atton couldn't help but wonder what she was doing.

Had he gone too far this time? The memories of his last mistake still haunted him.

He stood slowly.

And, as if in response to an action that wasn't meant to be threatening, the doors that connected the lounge to the rest of the ship slammed shut, even the ones Atton didn't know existed. The reverberation jolted up his spine as he remained still. Zeta didn't move. He swallowed at the lump in his throat. _Shit_.

The cabin fell silent after that. Not even the soft creaking of the _Hawk_ as it moved through space could be heard as he watched her through narrowed lids. Why weren't the others pounding on the doors? Surely they had heard them come down.

"This had better not be some Sith trick," he said at length. "If there was one thing I took away from them…"

He didn't get very far, however, as Zeta opened her eyes. They were glowing brighter than ever and though he had seen terrible things in his thirty-two years—things not even a soldier should see—nothing had ever truly frightened him. Until now. He flinched as her eyes opened a little wider.

It was strange, at first, a sort of static hiss in the back of his mind or an unreachable itch just below the surface of the skin. He even put a hand on the back of his head as it grew louder and more insistent. It was…weird. He wanted to itch at it but couldn't pinpoint its location. He wanted to scratch at it, rip at it, get it out of his head. It was like nothing he had ever felt.

And then it was.

Gripping at the sides of his head, Atton groaned and doubled over in pain as the hiss turned into a screech. He pulled at his hair and kicked at the floor, trying with all his might to push her out. He thought of everything he could, of all the horrors he had seen during the wars or the atrocities he had had a hand in. He wanted to scare her and show her exactly what he was capable of, but she pushed past it, his untrained mind helpless before her. It felt like evil. It felt like it had when his Sith masters had punished him for returning from a failed mission. He moaned as she dug into the part of his mind that had been closed for years and saw the things that even he didn't want to see.

"Get out of my head, you crazy fucking bitch…_!_" It sounded meek even as he screamed it.

Tears dripped from the corner of his eyes, then. It hurt worse than it ever had before; Revan had never gone so deep. Not because she couldn't, but because she didn't care to know everything. Atton was suddenly thankful for his former mistress's disregard.

And then she let go.

Staggering backwards away from her, Atton wiped at his mouth, unable to find the right words for the violation. He was horrified; no Sith he knew had ever been so cruel. What was she?

Zeta smiled. "Are you happy now? Are you happy now that you'll never again have to ask me how I know anything about you? I know it all. Your drunken mother, your absent father, your poor baby sister whose heart was just too weak…"

But he wasn't hearing her anymore. Taking two steps across the cabin, Atton aimed a punch for her nose and was thwarted as she put up an arm to block him. He slid past her with the force of his momentum and she grabbed his bicep to flip him onto his back, the air rushing out of his lungs as he hit the metal decking. Staring at the ceiling for only a moment, Atton leapt to his feet, years of training guiding him now, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Zeta blocked his next punch and the one after that. She tried to turn a kick into him from behind but Atton saw it coming. Grabbing her ankle, he pulled at her leg and sent her stumbling across the lounge. She managed to keep her feet, however, and was ready to stop his attack and to counter with an uppercut to his jaw, her knuckles splitting open as his head snapped back. Dots of light sparkled in his vision.

He took a step backwards in order to shake his head and managed to push Zeta away from him as she advanced, throwing her into the bulkhead. Atton couldn't tell if he had used the Force or not, though his fingers tingled, and he barely had the mind to keep an eye on Zeta as she ricocheted herself off the wall in an attempt to knock him to the floor. Ducking under her, Atton straightened just as she somersaulted out of her leap and turned to look at him. He was quicker, though, and spun a kick into her head, the heel of his boot grazing her cheek as she leaned away from it. He barked in triumph.

But Zeta wasn't done, either. Spitting blood at him, she shoved him with the Force and sent him flying across the cabin as he wiped the spittle from his eyes. Slamming into the wall with a grunt, his head _cracking_ against the metal, Atton slid to the deck.

"Why do you hate the Force so much?" she asked, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth and walking over to him. He stood, his body tense, but Zeta was apparently finished with the fight, as was he. He didn't know why.

Nor did he know why he allowed her to sidle up to him, her hand on his chest. "I believe Revan wanted to gift you as an apprentice to Maiali in the hopes that the two of you would follow her into the darkness beyond the veil of known space."

"Why? I hardly knew who Maia was back then. I didn't even understand _what_ Revan was."

"I believe she saw your potential, but I don't know everything."

Atton snorted. "You sure like to pretend you do."

Zeta's glowing eyes slid to the side, studying his profile as well as she could at this proximity.

"Revan loved her; that I know," she said quietly, turning back into his ear. "Maia was Revan's favorite before the end."

"That's rich. Revan sent Maia to her death."

"To test her. Why else do you think Revan would have let her live? Any other dark lord would have killed someone like Maiali. She knew too much. She was too good of a friend; a weakness others wouldn't tolerate."

Atton stared at the cobalt skin of Zeta's shoulder and watched as the tendons in her neck stretched when she turned into him, not sure why he didn't fight to get away; not sure if he wanted to.

She leaned closer, pinning him to the wall, and smelled of blood, leather, and cherry blossoms. It was intoxicating. It filled his nose and if he didn't hate the woman so much, a small part of his brain wondered what he would do with her nearness despite Maia. Zeta was beautiful, he couldn't deny it, her hair heavy, her bangs cut so they covered one red eye. Atton cursed under his breath.

After defecting from the Sith, he had hidden on the ice homeworld of Csilla, hated by the Chiss but inexplicably allowed to remain for some months. In that time, a few of the women had even come to him, curious about his race though obviously disgusted by it at the same time. They had all been like her—tall, lean, powerful. Even the men had been beautiful—some more so than Zeta—but she had the hardened body of a trained warrior that made something in his blood stir. He couldn't help it. Reaching for the jamb of the door behind him, Atton gripped at it, still unable to move.

He took in a shaky breath, the smell of her infiltrating his senses. "You didn't do this to Maia, did you?"

"I would do nothing to harm her," Zeta said into his ear. "She was given to the galaxy to save us."

"What?"

But Zeta ignored his question. "My academy is special, Atton. We are trained to know and to observe and to listen to the galaxy's chatter. And though we didn't send any of our knights to fight in the wars, we knew many who did. We learned of the meetings between Revan and her generals and we knew the movements of the foot soldiers… We knew the names of all the Jedi you and yours killed and tortured and turned."

"You're just some kid." Atton whispered, too. "There's no way you could know that. Are you even old enough to remember the wars?"

Zeta chuckled. "My academy watches the galaxy. We know the true histories, not those the Republic and the Jedi write to fool their people. We are the keepers of Truth and true knowledge. We see everything and no one sees us. We know everything and will protect everything because the Jedi Council lets us do as we will. They always have and always will." He felt her smile against his jaw. "We haven't the reins the Council puts on everyone else and are allowed to do as we see fit to keep our only home safe."

She stroked his stubbled chin with her thumb. "I love her too, little Jaq, more than I ever thought I would and though you might not believe me, I'm here to help Maiali and to protect her so she can protect us. I've told you that she is important, that she will save us all, but I don't know if you have the ability or the sight to comprehend just how much we need her. The galaxy will burn if she forgets it."

Atton leaned back as well as he could to look at her. Zeta slid her eyes to look back at him. She was eight years his junior—a young woman to most races not her own—and she seemed more knowledgeable about the galaxy than even he, a man who had spent his entire life in it.

He had been about her age when he had decided that Jedi and Sith where little more than intelligent children. They could see the future and manipulate the galaxy in a way no other living thing could, but they lived secluded lives away from people, war, and famine. They didn't know how things worked. They didn't know the suffering, but something told him that she did. That she had seen it and lived it. He didn't know if it was his thought or hers, but there it was in the base of his skull and he couldn't ignore it.

"I would die to protect her," he said at length.

"Let's hope you don't do something so rash." Their faces remained close. "You are what she fights to protect and she would give up the galaxy if it meant keeping you alive, so imagine what she would do if you were no longer there to live in it." She paused and looked in the direction of Maia's cabin. "When the time comes, you have to let her go just as Revan did. It's your life, not your presence, that keeps her fighting."

"I'll never let her go," he said with a growl.

"Don't be so selfish as to deprive the galaxy of its savior." Her lips touched his skin as she leaned back into his ear. "Her life is supposed to be one of solitude and the bonds she is able to inspire are the very bonds she must learn to live without. I, too, have been tangled in her web and it will break my heart the day I must get out, but I know that I have the strength to say goodbye. Do you?"

"What are you saying?"

"Forget her."

"No."

"You must. For the sake of everyone."

He snarled, then, his cheek scratching up against her skin as he found the strength to break free of her strange hold. Sweeping her legs out from under her, Atton sat on her thighs after she fell and held her wrists above her head, leaning into them and cutting off the blood flow to her hands. She didn't struggle, though, and only looked up at him, her hair a dark halo.

"I won't." His fingers dug into her skin. "And nothing you can say or do will convince me otherwise."

A smile touched her lips. "You don't have to believe me, Atton, but on the morning you wake to discover cold sheets where she had been sleeping the night before, remember what I've told you. Forget her." She tilted her head to one side. "Consider yourself warned."

"I'll hunt you down dead if she ever leaves me before I go off to find her. And if you're the one who takes her away from me…" His laugh held no humor. "You're the one who's been warned, little girl."

He held her there on the floor for a moment longer before standing up and wiping his hands together as he returned to the icebox. Opening it, he stuck his head inside to retrieve the stew he had been inspecting earlier and ignored Zeta as she got to her feet.

A moment later, he could feel her eyes on his back.

"If you choose to ignore everything else I've told you, remember this: The fate of the galaxy rests more in our decisions than it does in her actions. We can give her our help and our love and our strength, but we cannot allow ourselves to give her our lives. It's the only way she'll come back to us. Choose wisely."

When Zeta finally released her hold on the doors, no one was standing outside. Their fight had gone unnoticed, just as Zeta's exit from the lounge. Atton glanced down the corridor that led to the cargo hold when he stood from the icebox, stew in hand, and pushed hair across his forehead.

Considering who she was, he wanted to ignore everything she had just told him and go on living his life as if their adventure would never end. Of course Maia wouldn't leave him to run off after Revan. He refused to believe it. Still, Kreia's dying words as related to him by Maia niggled at the back of his mind, as did Zeta's assertion that he had to let her go if he wanted to let her live.

He frowned and put a hand on his stomach as it rumbled. Maybe he would digest Zeta's words after digesting his food. Or maybe he would just take a nap.

Denial was so much easier.


	18. Seventeen

A/N – Oh boy, let me tell you: I do not recommend trying to move across town while taking a class and working 60 hour weeks. Not fun to be had by any. But, somehow, among all that craziness, I managed to edit this chapter good from where it started about a week ago, so please enjoy. Oh, and a big thank you to **Spoodles** for sticking with me and continuing to review. You are invaluable to my sanity and desire to post this story quickly in the face of crazy.

--

Chapter Seventeen

Atton was pushing the remainder of his stew around the plate when Maia joined him in the lounge. She was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, her skin slick as she sat next to him on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest. Immediately ignoring the rest of his meal, Atton pressed a kiss against her temple, trying very hard to forget the conversation he had just had with Zeta. He wouldn't let her come between them, not after the hours, months, year he and Maia had spent fighting together; not after the terrible things they had seen and done together. He gripped at her arm a little tighter than usual as he pulled her into an embrace against his side.

And Maia just leaned into him seemingly unaware of the timbre of his thoughts and sighed as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. Her hair smelled sweet, as if she had put on a floral perfume to cover the scent of her workout, and it banished the smell of Zeta from his nose. He held her a little tighter; she played a rhythm with her fingers on his thigh.

"Is that Mira's stew?" she asked at length, her fingers pausing. A muscle in her cheek twitched as her eyes strayed to the side, though not quite far enough to look at him; Atton had a feeling it wasn't what she had come out here to discuss. He didn't press her on the matter, though, not wanting to scare her away any sooner than she would go on her own.

"I think so." He glanced back at the plate just as she reached for it, taking the spoon from where it lay on the table and helping herself. "I guess it's a good thing I'm done with it."

Maia chuckled lightly as she chewed. "I can't remember the last time I ate. Probably not since that meal bar I choked down on Korriban." A shiver ran through her body as she said the name. "I hope you don't mind."

He shook his head. "Just so long as you don't mind eating slobber."

Maia's hand paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth, her eyes sliding to the side, this time to look at him. He grinned.

"Honestly," she said after a moment, "your spit is better than an MRE." The spoon finished its journey to her mouth.

"Thanks," he replied. "I think."

Maia just shrugged with the shoulder not pressed against his body and finished the stew, scraping the plate for any leftover remnants and wiping her mouth with her thumb. Regarding the digit before sticking it in her mouth to clean, she rested her chin on her knee and looked to the far wall and the small paintings hanging there.

"I hope I haven't made a mistake," she said quietly.

He kissed her temple again and muttered, "What d'you mean?" into her hair.

"None of us know for sure that the weapon is on Raxus Prime, but we haven't the time to go to Nar Shaddaa or anywhere else to check our intel. I have to finish this before it gets any worse."

"You mean Zeta's intel," Atton said, his voice sour. "Are you sure you can trust her?"

"She hasn't done anything to lose my trust, Atton, and everywhere she's brought us has taken us one step closer to whatever this weapon is." She sighed. "If it hadn't been for Hoth, we wouldn't have known which planets to travel to."

"And Korriban?"

"Those…people. The Mithra'hii. They…" Maia trailed off and shook her head. "I still don't know. I began training instead of meditating. Something's blocking me." She sighed again, making a face as she flexed her right hand and studied the bandage covering her scraped palm.

"Korriban seemed like a big waste of time to me," Atton said, watching her hand as well. "All it did was freak you out and tell us where this supposed big bad weapon isn't."

"No," Maia said. "It confirmed something for me."

Atton laughed with little humor. "Seriously? I'm just really pissed off."

Maia didn't say anything for awhile and instead stared across the cabin, dropping her hand to his knee. Even when Atton began playing with her hair, she ignored him as she tried to form her thoughts into words, her forefinger drawing absent-minded circles on his leg.

At length, she turned just enough to look at him and dropped her feet to the floor, pressing herself into his body against the chill of the ship. She wore only a military tank and trousers, her feet bare, her hair only partially restrained. Little curls fell into her eyes and caught in her lashes. Atton swept them across her forehead as she spoke.

"Remember when I told you that there is some deeper evil to the galaxy? That there is something buried deep within the Force that influences its actions; something more ancient than almost anything else—Sith, Jedi, maybe even civilization as we know it." Her eyes were wide as she said it, a slight tremor in her voice, and Atton wondered how frightened she was of her apparent revelation. This was their fearless leader who only broke down in the depths of their perceived night; who had only cried once that he knew of. It had been the night before Malachor as they lay wrapped around each other in the dark and he remembered wanting to be annoyed at her for ruining his high without being able to follow through. It had been his first realization of how deeply he cared for this woman and he let her soak him in her tears. He wondered now if she would cry for him again.

"I don't remember that last part, but sure," Atton said, watching her, searching her eyes for any clue of what she might be trying to tell him. "Go on."

Maia worked her jaw and briefly looked away. "I think they might be connected to it somehow. There was something raw about their presence in the Force as if…" she furrowed her brow, "as if they used neither light nor dark when they were alive. I could feel them both there on the peripheral of their valley as the separate things I've always known, but their village was saturated in some kind of strange I've never encountered. It could explain why Korriban has always felt so…extraordinary. I've never faced the Force in that form." She moistened her lower lip with her tongue. "I thought I might have felt it on Dxun during the wars, but it was different. It was untamed and uncontrollable, yes, but still refined into two distinct hues. My masters would deny that the Force could exist in any other way than black and white, but I…I think they're wrong."

Maia took in a deep breath, her eyes searching nothingness, and Atton wondered how far over the line of blasphemy she was now treading and how much further her leashed mind would allow her to go.

"Wrong or afraid?" Atton said.

She looked at him. "How do you mean?"

"You're the only brave Jedi I've ever met, angel. The rest holed up to watch the galaxy die, begged at my feet for their life, or took the easy way out by giving in to the dark side. You've done none of that." He leaned back slightly. "And you've been given more opportunities than most."

She looked away from him and began to chew on her thumbnail, worrying away on it as she thought. "But I want it, Atton, more than I've wanted anything in my life. I could feel it in my fingers when they spoke to me and I couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to wield that kind of power. I could defeat the True Sith if I took it for my own. I could save the Republic and finally prove to Revan that I'm still worthy of her love."

"You shouldn't have to prove anything to that wench," Atton said. "She left you, remember? Stop worshipping her."

"I don't worship her," Maia said quietly. She didn't sound convinced. "But if I brought this kind of power back to her…" She shook her head and hid her face in her hands. "I can't believe I'm even considering it."

"You know what they say about desperate times, honey."

"But I'm not desperate," she said. "I don't think I'm desperate. I can't tell anymore. All I want is to give the Republic a chance to heal, but I don't think I'll be able to do even that. Some kind of an end is coming. I can feel it hovering there just below the horizon, I just don't know when it will happen or how I'll be able to stop it." She paused before continuing in a whisper. "Why doesn't the dark side hurt as much as it used to? I used to feel like I was dying and now it's hardly even a pinprick."

Atton watched her as she continued to hold her face, no longer touching her, not trying to answer her, afraid of where she might go if he moved too quickly. Ever since leaving Alderaan he had felt her retreating away from him and going somewhere he couldn't follow. Though they spent most of their time in each other's company, he couldn't help but feel as if she was on the far side of a widening chasm. She used to consult him on every decision, now she consulted only Zeta. Every planet they had visited had been decided on by the two of them, the rest of the crew merely along for the ride. He was even beginning to feel sorry for Mical for the inattention Maia was paying him.

Where was she going?

He didn't even know how to begin answering that question.

Taking a chance, Atton stroked her hair as she began to rock slowly and he had to remind himself that she had thirty-four years of history that he knew very little about. Sure she had told him tales from the war and a few from her exile and childhood, but she rarely went into detail about any of it, most of them humorous anecdotes. He knew that she was trying to forget an entire life and Atton wondered now if she was suffering because of it. What kind of memories had Korriban brought back? He wished he knew how to heal her.

At length, Maia looked up. No tears touched her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She didn't reply right away. In fact, Atton doubted she was actually seeing the lounge, her eyes unfocused in the seconds before she blinked. When they cleared, she looked surprised.

"Are you okay?" he said again.

"Yes," she said slowly. "I think I'm just tired. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. Soil doesn't make a very comfortable bed for my old bones."

"I slept just fine," he said.

Maia managed a smile as she stood; it didn't make it to her eyes. "Youth." She held out a hand for him and Atton wasn't about to pass up what she seemed to be offering. "There's nothing like it."

--

_Maia…_ it whispered. She batted at her ear and pressed into the warmth of Atton's back.

_Mai-a…_ it said again. It filled her mind, the voice of someone familiar, and caused a smile to spread across her lips as she continued to sleep. It hadn't the intention of waking her.

_Chickadee_, it said. _Chick-chick-chickadee… _she dreamt.

_She woke. _

_There was a strange heat in the air. A sticky heat. A broiling heat. Her sheets caught on her skin and she hardly realized that she was alone in her bed. It didn't matter; it was natural that she would be alone. They were all gone, now. Standing, she pushed damp hair from her face. It was too hot for robes, so she didn't bother dressing in more than the shorts she already wore. She wasn't on her ship._

_Someone screamed. Her heart stopped._

_A child._

_She looked in the direction of the noise, long hair curtaining her eyes._

_There was something she should know; some critical piece of information she was missing, but she couldn't think of what it might be. Being here felt perfectly natural, but she couldn't think why. She knew this smell, this room, the view out her small window, but she couldn't think why. It would come to her, she thought; it would come to her soon._

_Another scream. A different child. _

_Moving across the wooden floor, she waved her hand in front of the door release. It wouldn't open. She tried again. And again, panic rising in her throat. Something was wrong. She pounded on the door with her fists, crying. She had to save them._

_Outside, fire rained down from a sickly yellow sky._

_Her sobbing shook her body as she rested her forehead against the cool door. It took her mind a moment to process the temperature—just moments ago flames had flickered on the other side; she had felt them, she was sure of it. It should be too hot to touch. _

_Without another thought, she drew her lightsaber and activated it to cut her way through, the blackness of the blade casting strange shadows on the wall. And where there should have been a fire and a hallway when she kicked the door in there was only nothingness._

_It was sleek and smooth. It emanated a power unlike any she had ever felt and she reached for it; she needed it. It filled her and completed her like nothing ever had._

_It was everything she ever wanted._

_Chick-chick-chickadee…_

_She turned._

_Mai-a…_

_A cloaked figure stepped from the shadow of her blade. She couldn't see who it was, though a small part of her brain knew. The height gave it away. She had always been so tall…_

_Why do you cry, little chickadee?_

_She touched her cheek._

_They're already dead, Maia. There's no need to shed more tears for them. They chose their fate and there's no reason you should suffer because of it. They wanted to destroy us and the galaxy we love and fight for. They wanted to destroy everything, and so I destroyed them first. You know the truth._

_Still she cried. _

_Come here, my darling, she said, holding her arms open wide, her robes a great pit of nothing. Sleek and smooth. Emanating power._

_It was everything she had ever wanted and loved._

_She reached for it, coveted it, _needed_ it._

_Soothsayer…_

Maia woke with a gasp, clutching at her chest, sweat beading on her skin as she sat up straight. Atton turned towards her, only half awake.

"I locked the door," he muttered. "No one's getting in that thing."

Maia barely heard his reassurance, though, her ears still ringing. Nor did she hear his soft snoring as he fell back to sleep, his arm slung over her hips, the screaming of children cutting through her mind like a drone. The crackling of fire.

The sound of Revan's voice.

She continued to stare at the wall and drew her knees to her chest as best she could, shivering against the cold air though her skin still blazed with the heat of an inferno.

_Why?_

It was a vision. Maia had had them before, though never had she lived a role in what the future held. They had always been about the lives of other people. What had changed, then, to make her dream of herself?

But it hadn't only been her. There had been children. There had been some…_thing_. She didn't know what else to call it. It was like nothing in the galaxy she had ever seen or experienced. It was like nothing the galaxy had ever known.

_No_, she thought, remembering her lessons. The Sith had built a weapon like that once, a weapon that reflected their hunger and their greed. It had fed on the living Force, taking it from all things, perverting it and twisting it. Was that what they were building?

_Why?_

Maia swept hair out of her face and turned to look at the man who lay next to her, banishing all thoughts of the weapon from her mind. There was no point in wasting what precious little time she had left with Atton mulling over the Sith and their plans. She could do that when they woke. Still, it ticked away in the back of her mind.

Twirling a curl between two fingers, she tried ignoring the vision as best she could, the memory of the power offered by the blackness still tingling in her fingers. It should have been easy to forget, but never in her life had she wanted power like she did now. Never had she coveted something so incredibly. It pounded in her chest. It flooded her mind. Something was reaching out to her from across the emptiness of space and Maia couldn't help but listen even as she tried to shut her ears.

She didn't know what was happening to her.

Atton was breathing slowly, no doubt dreaming pleasant dreams, none the wiser of the terrible things she had just seen. If only she could sleep like that. Again. As a child she had known no troubles, coddled as she was by the Order. Dantooine had been the haven on which they had hid from the rest of the galaxy and it angered her still how little they cared about the people they swore to protect. Violence wasn't the way of the Jedi, but neither was letting others die to uphold some dated belief and the people of the Republic hadn't deserved to suffer because of it. Only Revan had been wise enough to see it.

And Maia had never felt guilty about leaving the Enclave behind.

Taking in a breath and banishing that, too, from her mind, she lay back down and put an arm around his chest, holding him close, never wanting to let him go. He was the only thing she wished to possess. She didn't need her ship or her lightsaber or the Force. She didn't need her friends or Revan or the power of that nothingness. She needed only him.

_Maia…_

She stared at the wall over his shoulder for what felt like hours, listening to the rhythm of his heart, unable to join him in sleep. She wouldn't let it happen. She couldn't let it happen. Not to her friends. Not to the man she loved. She would die before seeing them suffer. She would drive them away. Now it was only a question of what kind of an end they would meet on the planet that lived under a sick sky.

_Maia…_


	19. Eighteen

_A/N – Um, wow. That was a much longer hiatus than planned. Holidays, the early days of being romanced away by new stories (both original and a fanfic entitled _Freefalling_ out of the Supernatural 'verse), crazy work schedule… Same old, same old. Anyway, I do hope to pick up my rate of posting here soon. I just have to remember to email myself the chapters; I've lost my thumb drive. Enjoy!_

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Chapter Eighteen

Many planets within the Republic and outside of it claim to have the most profound sunrise in all the known galaxy. Governments build entire industries around First Light tours and other such activities, attracting pilgrims and tourists alike. From glittering sunlight on an ocean expanse to the brilliance of a sun or two coming up over a range of mountains, all were magnificent.

Daybreak on Raxus Prime, however, was more of an illness than it was an event. The horizon seemed to vomit the blur of the sun into a toxic haze some tried to call an atmosphere proving every day there were some places in the galaxy that simply shouldn't exist. The planet itself was a graveyard of all things mechanical painted in sulfur and sick; mountains made of dreadnaughts, foothills of skiffs, starfighters, and droids. Maia looked at it from the cockpit of the _Hawk_, her fingers fluttering over her forehead at the grief of it all. There was a form of life down there, a swarm of life, but it was miserable and terrible and she wasn't sure how long she would be able to stand it.

_Why_, she thought, couldn't they go somewhere green and alive? Maybe she would retreat back to the living once this was all over, if only for a little while. She needed to hear the Force sing to her in all of its strength and glory, not in this dissonance of the dying. She had been listening to it for far too long, and so she returned to Atton after only minutes spent in the cockpit with Mical and Bao-Dur to lay her ear on his chest and revel in the beat of his heart and the life it held as her lieutenant brought them to the planet's surface.

She could feel the ship slow towards the dead hull of a star cruiser that formed one bank of a noxious lake. The Sith were here; Maia could feel them even from her little sanctuary in Atton's arms and could hear the thing from her dreams call to her and whisper her name. She wanted the power it didn't promise and had to close her hands against the trembling in her fingers, her mind searching the disease beyond the hull for its nothingness.

She couldn't find it.

Atton took up her hand in one of his, kissing her knuckles and not saying a word about her apparent fear. She loved him for that, loved him deeper than she could put into words. He had become the one piece of galaxy she could hold on to when everything else fell out from beneath her and she was sure he knew it, even though she had never told him. He knew, she told herself, he had always known.

Touching his cheek as she stood in order to return to the cockpit—not wanting to leave him now or ever— she smiled at him and kissed his forehead and his hair, murmuring nothings against his skin. She had to look strong for the rest of the crew, her years of war making her appear a better person than she felt. If she could curl into a ball and simply escape the galaxy, she would. If she could cease to be in order to stop the strange whisperings in her mind, she would. A small part of her wanted to leave them all, but she wouldn't. She couldn't. She loved them too much to ever let them go.

With a sigh, she hooked her lightsaber to her belt, straightened her shoulders, and left Atton for the cockpit, placing her hand on the back of Bao-Dur's chair as he brought them in for the landing.

"You're just in time, General," he said without looking at her.

"I certainly hope so," she whispered back. Mical glanced at her over his shoulder but said nothing in return.

Piles of smaller ships and machines surrounded the _Hawk_ as Bao-Dur set it down on the uneven surface, pieces of scrap floating silently through the air above. Why the Sith chose to come here was beyond her, more so now than ever before. Taking in a breath as if to calm her mind, Maia left them quickly, passing Atton where he now stood at the top of the gangway and hardly paying him any attention. She did, however, touch his shoulder while he waited for the loading ramp to open. He glanced back at her without saying a word and only watched as she disappeared into the bowels of the ship

Frowning as he turned away, he took the ramp before it finished lowering and looked around, wrinkling his forehead at the stench. It was worse from this angle than it had been from the sky, the rust more apparent, the degradation more awful. It seemed to seethe and roll across the metal ground towards him, a strange yellow substance oozing slowly from between the forgotten plates of the ship at his feet. He stepped around it, glaring at it as if it offended him, and looked to the lake and the toxic mist that hovered above.

Though disgusted, he didn't allow himself to show it as other members of the crew began to leave the ship behind him, his mind begging him to cover his nose against the stench. Putting his hands in his pockets to stop any involuntary movement towards weakness, he smiled the most dashing smile he could manage the moment Maia appeared at the top of the ramp. She glanced only briefly in his direction; Mical frowned and went to stand next to him.

"You might have warned us about the smell, angel," Atton said, ignoring the other man.

"I've never been here, nor am I the one who ran the atmospheric diagnostic to determine whether we would be able to breathe or not, so blame Mical if you want to blame someone." She smiled at the two of them, Atton snickering at Mical's wide-eyed expression. "Or you could use that thing between your ears to reason that a planet covered in garbage is going to smell a bit." She pulled her datapad off her belt and turned it on. "I'm going to go make sure our equipment works. Talk amongst yourselves."

Turning from her companions, Maia went around to the far side of the ship just as Zeta joined the men at the base of the ramp, a grimace under her mask. "What is that awful smell?"

"Hundreds of years of Republic trash, but I'm guessing you already knew that," Atton said, frowning now. "There's nothing quite like the smell of Raxus Prime in the morning, is there, sister."

Mira, who exited the ship behind Zeta, joined the conversation before the Chiss woman could reply. "I guess it's a good thing I have olfactory blockers. It doesn't sound too pleasant, especially if it's anything like the view." She put a hand to her brow to block out the sun.

"They're about the same," Atton said.

Zeta touched the side of her nose. "I don't want to even imagine what it must look like."

"Don't plan on taking a looksie, then?" Atton managed to make it sound like a threat. She turned in his direction and straightened her shoulders.

"I have no need to, so no."

Mira looked between them, a furrow in her brow. "Have you ever imagined Hell in yellow, Zeta?"

"I have not."

"Well, that's about how it looks," Mira said with a frown of her own. "How's it smell?"

"Worse than a herd of three week dead bantha stewing in a Nal Hutta swamp," Zeta replied with a tilt of her head.

"Ouch."

Atton didn't take his eyes off of her. "C'mon, ladies, it's not that bad."

Zeta pointed to herself. "My masters wouldn't let me use my eyes as a child."

"So?"

"I developed a heightened sense of smell. Surely you could have reasoned that out on your own." She brought a finger to her temple and rapped at it once. "Maiali told me you were intelligent but I have yet to see it."

Atton stopped his snarl and his retort as Maia returned, glad for the interruption. He didn't want to get back into it with Zeta in front of their leader, sure he could take care of this other woman on his own. After all, he thought with a certain amount of bitterness, Maia certainly wasn't going to do anything about Zeta anytime soon. She had picked her side in this fight.

"What's the plan of action, boss lady?" he said, animosity still accenting his words even though he tried to bite it back.

Maia looked up from her datapad and narrowed her eyes. "All this crap is interfering with the electronics, so it looks like we'll be shooting blind and splitting up."

She lifted her brow quickly in silent comment as she put the datapad away. Adjusting her belt, she held on to it tightly as if trying to stop her hands from shaking. Only Atton noticed as she went on. "The Sith are somewhere to the north of us. That much I know for sure. As soon as Bao closes up the ship, Mical will lead him and Mira north-northeast while Atton and Zeta will accompany me north-by-west."

"What about the ship?" Mical asked.

"You don't think she blends in?" Maia said, turning to look at the _Hawk_. "I'm almost convinced she belongs here. But if you're worried, we could always drag some junk on top of her."

Atton shook his head. "I think she's fine the way she is."

"Aren't there scavengers around here?" Mical went on the say. Atton waved in the general direction of Maia and the _Hawk_.

"She's got some big guns. The ship, too." Atton grinned. "Meaning that anything other than us that gets close gets fried."

"What about the Sith? They might recognize her again, which would effectively give away the fact that we're here." Mical looked at his master. She had mostly ignored him during the jumps from Korriban, forcing him to wonder if she had grown tired of teaching. He had even asked it of each of his companions, sure word would eventually get back to Maia that he desired her attention. If it had, she didn't say a word about it to him.

"Didn't I warn you about paranoia?" she said. He nodded. "Besides, I think they're more focused on that weapon of theirs than they are on finding our ship." Maia looked at Mical and adjusted the heavy shawl she was once again wearing, pulling it up to cover her mouth and nose. It hardly helped impede the stench, but it was something.

Zeta turned to her. "Do you know anything about what they might have built?"

Maia nodded slowly. "I had a dream about it a few nights ago and if it's what I think it is, I remember it from my lessons as a child, though not well." She shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It should have been obvious."

Atton squinted at her. "Are you willing to share what you know with us or are you just going to keep it to yourself?"

"It was during Exar Kun's reign," she said, frowning back. "The Sith built a weapon that harvested the Force from anything within its reach. It would bring down star cruisers by killing hundreds of Jedi, focusing the energy it collected into one massive beam." She paused before taking in a sharp breath and continuing in a hushed voice. "That's why they were leaving."

"What do you mean?" Atton asked.

"The Sith," she said before turning to Zeta. "You said they were leaving known space. I just assumed you meant they were high-tailing it out of here, knowing they were defeated and acting like the cowards they are. How could I have been so stupid?" She stepped away from her companions and approached the toxic lake, stopping before she got too close.

"Are you saying they were fleeing the weapon?" Mical asked from where he stood.

"No," Maia replied. "The Jedi dismantled it and spread it out across the galaxy hoping no one would ever be able to use it again. The Sith weren't fleeing it, they were looking for it. That's why they went to Hoth and to Korriban and everywhere else." She paused and turned back to the others, her hazel eyes glowing strangely in the terrible light as they looked at nothing. "They've found everything they need. We started too late."

"Or we didn't go to the right planets." Atton turned to look at Zeta. "You knew what was going on the entire time, didn't you." His hand went to his weapon, forgetting his desire to keep the depth of their conflict secret.

"All I knew was that they were looking for some kind of a weapon and that they were leaving," Zeta said, her hands still at her sides. "If I could have led you to the right planets in the right amount of time then I would have—believe me, I would have. I want to save this galaxy just as much as Maiali does. But my knowledge was limited. Of the few planets I heard named, Hoth was the most likely place to hide something and Korriban seemed the logical place to keep or even build a weapon. Other planets—Bakura, Alderaan, Ryloth, Sullust—were either too populated to make sense, too harsh an environment, or places you've recently traveled without noticing Sith activity, unusual or otherwise. Raxus Prime was illogical at best. Even Yavin Four in its destruction made more sense."

"Yet here it is," Atton said, gesturing around with his blaster. "I thought you said your academy knew things that no one else did. That you knew things. True histories and shit like that. Besides, I don't remember mention of those other planets."

"They didn't exactly keep me in the loop after I left."

Atton's laugh came as a bark. "I somehow doubt you were actually exiled. It's a little too much of a coincidence, if you ask me. Some Sith trick."

"Why must you persist?" Zeta drew her weapon from its sheath as well, but didn't activate it. "If it's another fight you're looking for, then know that you will lose this time. I won't let you off so easily again."

"Easy?" Atton said with a laugh. "I recall having the upper hand the last couple of times. Your ass should be damn sore by now."

"What?" Maia asked. Neither responded.

Instead, Zeta's weapon sprang to life with the lightest touch of her thumb. The blade was the same sickly colour as the Raxus Prime sky and was long just as the hilt was long. Lowering her sword arm, she spun the weapon in her hand to position the blade behind her rather than in front, her other hand before her, ready to fight. It was the first time any of them had seen her weapon activated and it crackled terribly in the pollution.

A smile touched Zeta's lips, then, just as actual fear crossed through Atton's eyes. He hadn't expected her eagerness.

Before they could go any further, however, Maia held up her hands to take their weapons, calling on the Force to rip them from their grasps. Zeta let go immediately while Atton fought briefly to keep his.

"Have you two completely lost your minds? We're supposed to be working together here."

Atton opened his mouth to speak but Maia cut him off with a gesture of her hand. His mouth snapped shut as if on its own accord. "I don't care if you don't like her or if she doesn't like you. I don't expect everyone to get along like happy little lovebirds in a cage but you have to remember that we all have the same goal here—to get rid of that damned Sith weapon. Put your egos to the side and just deal with the situation as it is for the sake of everyone else in the galaxy. This is bigger than us. Zeta, I would have expected you to understand that without me having to tell you."

"I was defending myself." For once, the young woman sounded her age, if not much younger.

"Unless he had actually shot at you, then, no, no you weren't. That was an act of aggression. You should be able to recognize that, being a Jedi. You should know better than him."

Though her eyes were still covered, Zeta glanced away, her shoulders heaving but taking the criticism nonetheless. Eventually, and after a length of silence had befallen the group, she stood up straight and shifted her shoulders. "I guess I have been away from my academy for so long that I have lost the ability to distinguish between the two. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Maia said. "Learn."

She threw Zeta's weapon back to her with more force than necessary and Zeta nodded slowly as she put it away. Atton held out his hand, expecting to get his weapon back, too. It didn't come.

"What's the deal, Maia? Are you starting to trust her more than you trust me? That's rich considering everything you and I have been through together. _We've_ saved the galaxy. She's done what, tickle your imaginations? Not grounds for this level of…dependence."

"No," she said, her voice harsh. "Not yet, but I need you to get something through that thick skull of yours, Atton Rand, if you want to keep the trust you've managed to garner out of me, because sleeping in my bed gives you even less grounds than she has." She ignored his expression of offence, stabbing her finger at him in gesture. "And I mean really understand. Don't just brush this off like you do most other things."

"Yeah, sure, I'm listening," he said through gritted teeth.

Maia laughed in disbelief as she looked him up and down and considered forcibly driving what she was about to say into his mind, though decided quickly against it. She didn't need him hating her now when she needed his support the most. If she was right, the Sith weapon was unlike anything they had ever faced and she still wasn't sure how she was going to deal with it. She needed her friends to help her, not hinder her, and this fight wasn't doing them any good.

"I know you think that Zeta has me wrapped around her little finger, but she isn't the one calling the shots here. I am. I'm the one who chose to go to Korriban for the exact same reasons she gave you just now. We talked about it. A lot. Just because you weren't there doesn't mean it didn't happen. Just because you didn't hear about the other planets—"

"I know…"

"No," Maia said. "You're listening right now, not talking."

Atton looked away.

"The atmosphere here is good for little else than rusting machinery so building a delicate piece of weaponry on Raxus Prime didn't make a whole lot of sense to either of us. Besides," she went on, "there's nothing here for the Sith to defend or attack. It's not on any major trade routes, it doesn't lead anywhere important. There aren't any known academies in the area. It's just sort of here. Maybe they brought it back to honor the memory of Exar Kun since it has already called this planet home, but other than that…" She trailed off with a gesture. "We're both at a loss. All we know is that it's here. I can feel it out there, Atton. A pit of blackness and despair and I need you to believe in me for just a little while longer. I don't know if I can deal with it otherwise." She didn't dare tell them how it called to her.

Atton just frowned, not convinced. "You should have been discussing travel plans with everyone, Maia, not just with her." He gestured brusquely in Zeta's direction. "Our lives have been put on stake time and again and I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to have a say in where I'm going to die."

"You're not going to die," Maia said.

"You don't know that."

Maia had nothing to respond with. Glancing at their companions, she pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes against the sun.

"I'm sorry," she said to them all. She looked around once more before stepping in the direction she, Atton, and Zeta would be taking, giving Atton his blaster as she passed him. "I'm sorry," she said again so only he could hear.

Atton holstered the weapon without responding and only glared at her back as she walked away. Zeta followed without a word to anyone and Atton had to turn away, too disgusted with the Chiss woman to even look at her. She would pay for taking his Maia away.

Looking over his shoulder to where the others were standing, he allowed a tight smile in response to Mira's shrug.

"I don't know about you," she said, "but I've got to believe that she knows what she's doing."

He glanced at her. "Do you still trust her, Mira?"

"I have to."

"Why?"

"Do you know how many times we would have died by now if it weren't for her?" Mira asked. "I've lost count. And, personally, I like being alive. You?"

"It's preferable to being dead, I guess."

He turned to watch Maia's retreating back, knowing that he would have to leave soon if he didn't want to lose her.

Mira interrupted his thoughts. "Do you still trust her to do the right thing, Atton?"

"I want to," he said quietly.

"But do you trust her?"

He looked back at Mira. "I honestly don't know anymore."

She snorted.

"I suggest you figure it out, for all our sakes. Like she said, this is bigger than all of us and I have a feeling that when it's all said and done, she's going to turn to you, not to Zeta. Maia trusts her because she has the information she needs to save the galaxy from something she doesn't quite understand, but you're, well, you." Mira shrugged again. "If you took just one minute to think about everything she's done since meeting Zeta, you'd see how much she seeks out your approval on things, not hers. You are the most important person in her life. She fights to keep you alive. Please don't do anything stupid to jeopardize that."

Atton frowned. "Since when did you become a know-it-all?"

"I've always been one. You, Atton Rand, have just been too focused on Maia to ever pay any attention to me." Mira crossed the decrepit hull to stand next to him. "Welcome to the real world."

"The view sucks."

"You get used to it."

Atton didn't quite smile at her before taking his leave and jogging in Maia's wake, not wanting to be left behind. Still, he didn't close the distance completely, needing the space to think about what both Mira and Zeta had told him.

It was strange, he thought, how similar their pleading had been and Atton didn't like it. He could have ignored it completely had Zeta been the only one insisting on his importance in Maia's life, but now that Mira was saying the same he didn't know what to do. How could he possibly have such an impact on someone? Despite his bravado, Atton still considered himself some form of lowlife and up until recently, he had been proud of it. Sticking it to the man, that's what Atton Rand did. But now it appeared as if the fate of the entire galaxy rested in his hands simply because he had allowed himself to fall in love with a Jedi who was more than willing to love him back.

Atton looked at the women in front of him and frowned even deeper. Maybe he should have abandoned them on Nar Shaddaa after all.

--

_A/N the second – I feel as if Atton's personality lends itself well to angst what with that self-loathing, Exile-worshipping, man about town 'tude of his. He's just an emotional sponge cake of a man. Right. Anyway, the majority of this chapter has been sitting around on my hard drive for the better part of forever now. Raxus Prime was going to be one of the early planets they traveled to until I discovered the existence of the Dark Reaper in canon, at which point it ended up here. Yay, WMDs?_


	20. Nineteen

_A/N – Yes! Writing success! I've had a sudden burst of creative juices concerning part two (Slayer). Finally… I've still got a lot to write, but it's going, at least for now. In part, I think, to my few wonderful reviewers: __**Spoodles**__, thank you for your continued support and __**ElvisTheCat**__, welcome to the family. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. And to the rest of you whom I have never met, thank you for reading at the very least. It'd be great to here from you sometime ; ) Thanks for everything, everyone! _

--

Chapter Nineteen

Atton didn't say a word to either of his companions as they wound their way through the junkyard. Instead, he spent the time contemplating the countless terrible ways he could expose Zeta. As far as he was concerned, she had already caught herself in a web of lies, now he just had to convince Maia to see the truth that he saw. The young woman was no good. Not for him. Not for her. Not for their relationship. All she had done since coming aboard was lie and con her way into their lives.

Why Maia couldn't see it was beyond him. She was the mind reader—certainly she had read the deceit in Zeta's mind that Atton could see on her face. He snarled at the thought that followed. Why, then, would Maia chose to ignore such blatant lies?

He snarled again, this time out loud. Maia glanced over her shoulder and he ignored her.

Because of his previous life under Revan, he knew a good liar when he saw one and Zeta had trained with the best. He was sure of it. She claimed not to be Sith and even grew offended when he suggested her allegiance with them, but he couldn't think of any other faction that could lie better than they could. Kreia, he thought with a smirk, had been the grandmother of all liars. She certainly had been old enough.

_The old hag._

He snorted out his laughter and turned his gaze to Zeta. Maybe he could employ the techniques he had used to corrupt Jedi. She had broken through his defenses once before, but he hadn't been at full strength then—had been out of practice and caught off guard by her sudden mental onslaught and had since been doing the mental exercises they taught him those years ago. Next time he would beat her into submission with the full brunt of his training. He would invade her mind; he would torture her and make her beg at his feet. He would humiliate her and make her feel something like the creature she was.

A cruel smile crossed his lips. He would trick her, poison her, force his will upon her…

No.

That was not a path he wanted to go down again. He had been good at it—the best at it—but it had also turned him into something he despised; an animal that unconsciously used the Force to hurt and to maim. Something less than human.

_No_, he thought again. He wouldn't let her turn him back into that. He was too much better than she was to allow himself to stoop to her level. He hadn't tricked Maia into trusting him with stories of shared woe and impossible promises—he had earned it the hard way. Now he could only wish that Maia would keep up her end. He wanted desperately to trust her again.

He clenched his hands at the thought and focused on the ruined hull beneath his feet. Something smoldered there deep in his heart that spread slowly through his body and mind, calming him as he thought of her. Somehow. He would find a way to save her from the galaxy before she destroyed herself trying to save it. He didn't care what Zeta said about letting her go. He wouldn't lose her, not in this lifetime. She was his, only his. His beloved. _Fuck the rest of the galaxy_.

Atton was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Maia and Zeta disappear from in front of him. It wasn't until he came to the top of a metal ridge and didn't see them on the downward slope that he realized they were gone.

"Damn it all," he muttered.

Looking around, Atton was about to begin the descent into the shallow valley below when a blaster bolt flashed past his ear. Cursing, he ducked and sprinted for the nearest cover, more bolts following him as he went. Leaping over a particularly well-aimed shot, Atton dove behind a bent piece of exterior plating and leaned against it as he came out of his somersault, his chest heaving. To his surprise, Maia was crouching on a half-buried hull just above and to the right of him.

"Thanks for the warning," he said once he caught his breath.

"Thank you for exposing our position," Maia replied, hardly glancing at him. "I was hoping we would be able to sneak around them until you came sauntering up the hill."

"I wasn't sauntering," he practically growled, peeking around the side of the plating, his brief moment of forgiveness now passed. "Scavengers?"

"Yeah." She had a blaster drawn. "I think there might be a way around them through the corvette here." She tapped at the ship beneath her feet with the tip of one finger. "But I don't know how far it extends. I'd really rather not have to kill them."

He watched her swallow as she peeked out at the gathered Rodians, dirty hair falling into her eyes. The air alone was polluted enough to dirty them—their hair, skin, clothing already covered in a fine layer of grease and grime. Atton rubbed at his jaw with the exposed part of his thumb, frowning as it slid unnaturally across his skin and stubble.

Glancing the way she looked as he rubbed his thumb on equally soiled clothing, he said, "Where's the Chiss?"

Maia turned a hard look on him. "She's scouting ahead. And stop calling her that. She has a name, Atton."

"Druao'zet'awhatever, yeah I know." He frowned and made a grunting noise in the back of his throat. "I've been meaning to talk to you about her, actually."

"I think you already did."

"No," he said. "She baited me into a fight. And then you lectured me. I didn't get the chance to do much speaking."

"I recall you doing the baiting."

Atton's lip lifted slightly in response. Maia returned the expression before glancing at a blaster bolt that sizzled its way through the air above their heads.

"She's bad news, Maia. I don't know how many times I have to say it before you believe me, but I'm going to keep on trying until you do." Finally drawing his sidearm, Atton leaned around the side of his cover and pulled off a shot. He just missed. "I've got a real bad feeling about her and even if she's not Sith, she's hiding something big. And I mean really big. Galaxy shattering, maybe."

"What makes you say that?" Maia asked. Her shot hit its target.

Atton watched her for a moment, trying to decide if he should tell her what Zeta had told him about being Revan's favorite or about her supposed true histories. But with a shake of his head, he decided that it could wait. Maia wasn't going anywhere for a long time and, for some reason or another, there was something telling him that this wasn't the time or the place to cause further strife in their group. So, instead, he went on to say, "I've just got this feeling, is all, and it's the kind that usually turns into something real."

"You mean like foresight?"

He snarled at the implication. "I mean like having been around the block a few hundred times and knowing how things tend to go down. Stop trying to turn me into some damn Jedi," he added.

"I'm not trying anything."

He turned a look on her and was about to go on when Zeta returned. She was pulling herself out of the twisted hull of the corvette, her cloth mask pushed up onto her forehead so she could see when Atton turned to look at her. Sliding her glance over him, she turned to Maia, still only halfway out of the ship, though she didn't make any effort to move further than where she was.

"I believe I've found a way through to the other side," she said. "There were a few scavengers but I was able to take care of them before they had the chance to call any of their companions." There was a smear of black blood under one eye and across her chest. "We have to hurry, though. I'm not sure how long it will take the others to realize their friends are dead."

Maia just nodded and followed Zeta as she disappeared back into the ship. Atton stood and almost lost his head to a blaster bolt before scrambling up the side of the ship to join the women. Glancing back at the grouping of Rodians and ducking under another bolt, Atton leapt down the hole behind Maia.

But the women hadn't waited for him to drop to the littered floor before starting their way through the darkened interior and Atton muttered at their backs as he holstered his blaster and drew the assault rifle he had strapped across his back. He switched on the glowrod at the end and aimed it at the floor so he could see. Maia glanced at him but said nothing.

And despite the small amount of light his weapon added, it was nearly impossible to see as they made their way through the ship. Only Atton tripped and slipped on the scattered debris, however, cursing under his breath with each misstep. The resulting sound might have well been a mining blast and Maia shot him a look over her shoulder more than once. Atton simply pretended he couldn't see her and straightened his jacket before continuing on after the latest stumble.

They walked in relative silence for some time after that, slowly able to see more of their winding passageway. Zeta's eyes glowed eerily in the dim light and flashed each time she looked to see how companions were managing. More than once, they had to double back, their path blocked by debris, collapse, or solid blast doors. Atton grumbled about the inability of Jedi to do anything practical.

"Yes," Maia said, catching him, "because killing an entire camp of scavengers would have been so much more practical."

"It would have been quicker," Atton said in return. "We'd probably have already defeated the Sith and be safe and happy back in hyperspace by now if we had."

Maia stopped and turned to face him, her arms closed over her chest. At length, she said, "What are you afraid of?"

He snorted. "I'm not afraid of anything. Stop trying to read my mind."

"I'm not," she said. "I haven't been able to for some time now. It's how I know."

"What the hell does that mean?"

She studied him rather than answering, squinting against the darkness, while Zeta continued to make her way through the corvette behind them, not wanting any part of the argument. She had made her position on their relationship clear and Atton was happy that she chose not to intervene. He wasn't sure what he would do if she tried to get into the middle of it. Maybe just shoot her and get it over with.

"Maia?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"I asked you a question."

"I'm aware of that."

Atton ground his teeth together. "Well?"

"It's not the kind of question I can answer, especially since you already have an answer." She shook her head slowly and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. It was a sad expression.

"Excuse me?"

But Maia didn't get the chance to respond. Behind her, Zeta activated her lightsaber, the sickly, sulfur colour of its blade flooding the interior of the ship. Both Maia and Atton turned that way, their hands going immediately to their weapons, though neither could see the woman's opponent until she leapt forward and elegantly removed a Rodian's head from his shoulders with a flick of her wrist. A blaster bolt flashed out of the darkness as she landed that Zeta deflected with the palm of her opposite hand before spinning forward, exchanging sword arms behind her back in the same motion to stop a small flurry of blaster fire from hitting her and using her momentum to cut the attacking scavenger clean through the chest. He fell with a gurgle to lie next to his dead companion.

Turning over her shoulder, Zeta switched the blade off. A strange light glowed in the distance that Atton hadn't noticed before.

"I believe we've reached the end," she said, still holding the long hilt.

"Good," Atton replied, "it's getting stuffy in here."

"And it's better outside?" Maia asked. Atton narrowed his eyes at her.

"At least there'll be a breeze."

"Which only makes it so much easier to breathe, thanks to the incredible stench of rotting garbage." She rolled her eyes heavenward, though it was barely visible in the dim light. "I pity you Zeta, really."

And that was about all he could take. Switching off the glowrod, he returned his weapon to his back and wiped his hands together, scowling at Maia.

"Six of one then, honey," he said, pushing past both women to get out of the corvette. He didn't see their exchange behind his back, nor did he care. He would save Maia from the Chiss and make the girl suffer in the process, but for now he was done with the pair of them.

_I could poison her,_ he thought as he stepped back into the light of the sick sky. _I could torture her, make her suffer…_

--

She could feel it there somewhere over the horizon, whispering to her.

She could feel its nothingness and its despair; she could feel it teeming with life and death and every tortured thing in between.

It buzzed through her brain, her forehead numb, her fingers numb. Her thoughts numb. It whimpered and it cried. It whispered and it sang a perverse lullaby that drew her in like nothing ever had—not Atton, not Revan, not Zeta's promises.

She couldn't ignore it though she tried as she took in a shuttering breath, pausing at the top of a crest made of rust and droids. A single dead eye stared up at her from the heap of metal legs and torsos and she turned away from it though it couldn't see and towards the invisible nothing that existed somewhere in front of her. Still, she could feel the droid's staring. And so, without looking at it again, she brought her boot heel down on top of it, crushing it into oblivion.

Another breath as she searched the horizon.

_Maia…_ whispered the wind.

She shook her head sharply as her mind whispered, too.

She turned then to Zeta where she navigated the junkyard some meters in front of her, and then to Atton who was following behind, wishing that she could have them both and knowing it was impossible. She wasn't supposed to have companions, but Kreia hadn't known of Zeta before she died.

Had she?

She rubbed unconsciously at the scar on her throat and continued to look at Atton, watching him as he found a path through the waste. He was her everything and it broke her heart that she didn't know who she would choose in the end. Her breath rasped through her throat once more, her fingers finding the small scrimshaw pendant she wore around her neck; the only gift she had received for a birthday she had told no one about. How he had figured it out was beyond her. _How_, she went on to think,_ how did I get so old?_ Lines touched the corners of her eyes though she was only halfway through her third decade.

She frowned and dropped her hand, starting down the other side, watching only the horizon as she went and trying to find the thing that whispered so sweetly through her mind.

The next hour or so went by with little excitement. It took a long time to navigate the junkyard and the small group managed to cover only a handful of miles in that amount of time. It frustrated Maia, though she wouldn't allow her companions to see it. All she wanted was to find the weapon—this Dark Reaper—and destroy it, if only to stop it from tempting her into something she wanted no part of. She didn't know how she would do it or if it was even possible to undo something so wicked, but she had to try. The entire galaxy depended on it. Her sanity depended on it.

Coming to the top of yet another rusted hill, Maia wiped sweat and grease from her brow before putting her hands on her waist and scowling, angry that she still couldn't see it. The Reaper was big, really big. She remembered that much from her lessons for sure, so how the Sith were able to conceal it was beyond her. Surely she or Zeta would know if they were using the Force to hide it from them and there would be a shimmer on the horizon if they were attempting to cloak it.

Zeta came to one side and Atton to the other as she continued to search for the weapon, reaching out with the Force, now. She glanced between them before blowing a loose curl out of her eyes. It fell back into place.

"I thought you said it was close," Atton said, squinting against the bright sky.

"Shut up," Maia replied. She didn't have time for him.

"I'm only saying that at this point I'm thinking that we should have landed a bit closer to save us the walk. We'll be exhausted by the time we get there, not to mention getting back to the ship."

Maia glanced at him, squinting as well. "I have the Force to keep me strong. I'll be fine."

Zeta said nothing, though she didn't try to hide her eavesdropping.

"That was a low blow, Maia," Atton said. "Real low."

"Not as low as you think." She gave him a once-over.

"Excuse me?" Atton's voice went up in timbre. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Maia just lifted her brow at him and turned to Zeta, ignoring the man further. His rage almost banished the Reaper's voice from her mind, especially as her voice softened when she spoke to the other woman, "I can still feel it out there," she said. "But I would have expected to see it by now."

"Do you know what it looks like?" Zeta said. "Did they show you images when you were a child, or did they simply talk about it as the context of a greater story?"

Maia didn't answer right away. She turned her eyes to the junkyard where it spread out before them, searching the ruin for anything that could be the weapon.

"No," she said at length. "They spoke of it without detail and any files on it were locked or simply didn't exist. I think they feared what we might have done with the knowledge."

A smile touched Zeta's lips beneath her mask. She had replaced it the moment they returned to the sunlight and Maia wondered how sensitive the other woman's eyes were for their lack of use. It certainly would make a great deal of sense considering the things she did while wearing it. She claimed to have been trained to fight in the mask, but that didn't mean she had to climb rock walls or over garbage while wearing it, too. Maia frowned. How was she able to trust a woman she knew so little about?

The thought disappeared, however, the moment her eyes fell on a darkened spot among the abandoned hulls. When she had first seen it, Maia had simply passed it off as a shadow cast by the strange light, but now that she studied it, it became more solid somehow and Maia suddenly knew that the Sith had tried to obscure their weapon, but no more; it was much closer than she expected it. Its domed surface was black, smooth, and matte, a dark pit marking its center and four great pillars marking that pit. Something about it seemed to pulse and her heart took up its rhythm now as she looked at it in all of its terrible glory. Clutching at her chest, Maia drew in a sharp breath.

"Maia?" Atton said. She didn't hear him. "Maia?" he tried again. "Sweetheart."

Still, she didn't hear him. It called out to her. It made her head pound. How would she be able to defeat it if she could barely look at it?

Zeta whispered in her ear and she jumped.

"Forget the existence of the dark side."

"What?"

"Forget that the Force is a coin of two sides and think of it instead as a single entity. The dark side repulses you and sickens you, but if it doesn't exist, how can it affect you so?" She gripped Maia's arms just above her elbows. "You do not have to do it forever, but if you do not do it now, all of us will die, and with us the hope of the Republic."

"I don't understand…"

Zeta continued, not answering her question. "You are the fulcrum, Maiali. If you crumble, the galaxy will tip into a darkness none of us can imagine. We need you. No one else can do what you must do. I've dreamt it. I've seen it for years, now—we all have. Our meeting was not coincidence."

Maia furrowed her brow against the growing pain and nausea.

"How will I stop it?" she asked, not absorbing all of Zeta's words. Her mind was only one track and had no room for anything other than the machine that stood there before her.

"You've done it before."

"That was a little different, Zeta," Maia said, finally able to tear her eyes away from the weapon. Still, it whispered in her mind, louder now than ever before. Static accompanied its strange voice.

_Maia_…

"You stopped a war before it got worse. You saved a galaxy from an army that didn't know the meaning of mercy. You sacrificed your life for theirs. You are a hero, General, and you will be a hero again."

"I made it worse," Maia said, whispering. "I killed thousands of people just to stop the pain. Do you know what its like to feel your self dying? It's agony. My soul was dwindling inside a body that had become little more than a shell by the time I told Bao-Dur to kill them." Her breath caught in her throat. "I couldn't even form the words that condemned them, Zeta. A nod. That was it. A single nod. How loathsome am I? I should have followed her beyond the veil if only to punish myself for what I did. Revan would have given me the reward I deserved." She glanced to the ground. "Or maybe she did by leaving me behind. Death would have been too kind."

Atton didn't say a word.

Zeta, however, did. "Is killing a few so bad in order to save multitudes more? Trillions of people owe you their lives. You are a hero in the truest sense of the word."

"Who are you?" Maia could barely get it out, and so whispered the words.

"I am the forgotten," Zeta said. "I am a watcher. I was trained to be patient, but you must do this now. I have chosen to protect you so you can protect us. I cannot let the galaxy suffer because of you, Maiali Tal."

"I'm afraid of what I might do."

"And that is what makes you strong enough to do it." Zeta laid a hand in the middle of her chest. "Fear lets us know that we are truly alive."

Maia looked first at Zeta's cobalt hand where it lay before turning back to the Dark Reaper. It still beat a terrible quiet in her mind, but she was able to think through it. She blinked and shook her head. Its voice persisted and whispered sweetly to her still, but the static was gone and her thoughts were mostly her own. She had told Atton that the dark side no longer hurt like it used to, but it would still drive her blind and render her mute in the Force in such concentrations. There had always been that static; she had never been able to think through it before.

_Why?_

Glancing at Atton, she broke from Zeta's grasp and went to his side, touching his hand. He shied away from the contact, still angry, but took up her gaze, his eyes narrowing. Maia couldn't tell if it was against her or against the sun.

"Rally the others," she said softly, "and tell them our position. I need everyone here with me." She put her arms around him, then, and didn't care when he did not hold her in return. Burying her face in the crook of his neck, she breathed him in, whispering, "Especially you, my love. I need you to save me from myself. Please don't leave me now."

Atton looked at Zeta and she returned his gaze even through the cloth that covered her eyes. And though he was angry that Maia would listen to Zeta's council over his, he enclosed his lover in his arms, unable to stay mad at her, clutching her until it hurt.

He would never let her slip away.


	21. Twenty

_A/N: Oh. Man. Has it really been that long since I updated last? Geez, sorry about that. Re-unemployment really distorts time (second time, same company, nine months…) Maybe the writing class I signed up for will help me...or hinder me with assignments... Anyway, you should go look up the Sculpture Elia (it's in Denmark) because it's kind to how I image the Reaper to look. It's crazy (and really scary to stand on considering it's a big lightning rod, especially when there's a storm on the horizon…) Other songs that helped me write the fighting scenes: "Dragula" (Rob Zombie), "The Beautiful People" (Marilyn Manson), "Uprising" (Muse) and other such songs. Lyrics are from __Björk's__ "Army of Me".  
_

--

Chapter Twenty

_I won't sympathize anymore,_

_And if you complain once more,_

_You'll meet an army of me._

Maia was sitting on an uneven piece of hull and studying the Dark Reaper as the others approached, Atton standing over her as if trying to protect her from a threat he didn't understand. From time to time he would touch her hair or she would look away from the machine to glance up at him, but in the hours it took her friends to find her, she didn't really move except to detach herself from Atton so he could call them to her.

She sighed and tilted her head to one side before turning a glance over her shoulder to watch as they crested the hill. With another breath, she stood slowly to greet them, wiping her half-gloved hands together and only smearing the grime across the leather. Wiping her hands on her trousers had the same affect, so she gave up. Her friends were just as dirty, anyway.

Cupping Mical's cheek before turning a smile on Bao-Dur and Mira, she ignored Atton as his gaze bored into the back of her skull. She wouldn't encourage his jealously, especially now. If they survived, she would have to sit him down and tell him that he was everything. Convince him that he was everything.

"Thank you for coming so swiftly," she said.

Mical shook his head. "Where else would we go?"

A smile touched Maia's lips. As a general she had been able to inspire her troops to do what she needed them to do, but they had been soldiers trained to follow orders and Maia doubted that any of them would have willingly lain down their life to save hers. But here she had four—maybe five—who would do anything to protect her and she didn't know what to do with that kind of power. Could she truly send them into a battle she doubted even she would survive? In the time she had spent waiting for their arrival she had watched the ground around the Reaper literally crawl with an army of Sith—dark Jedi and otherwise. There were hundreds of them down there. Maybe a thousand or more. How could her party of six ever hope to survive another sunrise?

Maia's smile didn't falter, however, even as her confidence did. She had learned as a young woman—as a child—to show no weakness in the face of those she commanded. If she was unable to demonstrate strength in a time like this when they were sorely outnumbered, she hardly expected those she was asking to die for her to do the same. No one but Atton had ever seen her cry, in this war or the last. Or the one before that.

"Thank you," Maia finally said.

"There is no need for that, General," Bao-Dur said. "We would follow you to the end."

"And I think the end might have finally come for us, Lieutenant," Maia replied, turning to the weapon and pointing at it. "They've built a new hull, but the mechanism is the same. I don't know when they plan to activate it or if it's even operational, but we must strike now and we must strike hard. I fear that the fate of every life in the galaxy will eventually hang between those pillars."

"Have you seen something?" Mical asked.

Maia looked at him. No tears touched her eyes; her voice strong, but sad. "I was a child, hardly even a Padawan, and I saw the galaxy burning. I saw the Force snuff out every life on every planet as if it was tired of its creation. It was…nothingness and it frightened me like nothing ever had before it. No monster my new master and I faced, no threat created by the psyche or otherwise." She drew in a breath and could feel the air's grime pull against her scars. "I've told you that it is a Force weapon and I fear that someone will finish what Kreia set out to finish. She hadn't the influence to find this…thing when she was with us and whoever was able to set this plan in motion will not be the one who sees it through," she whispered, her eyes suddenly unfocused as she saw something they couldn't. Her breath quickened.

"What do you see, Maia?" Mical asked, touching her elbow.

She looked to the spoiled sky, blinking once. Twice.

"Only me."

Maia turned away again and stepped towards the weapon just as a bolt of lightning licked up one of its four pillars and arced to another, the smooth surface of its massive domed body shimmering with the power held within. Maia swallowed at the sudden rise of bile in her throat and glanced to where Zeta stood. The younger woman had removed her mask to study the weapon as well and now she turned her strange eyes to Maia, nodding. It was time to go.

"Follow me if you will," Maia said without looking back at them.

Taking in a breath as if to calm herself, she started down the hill, hopping to the top of a crooked frigate and then to its open hatch. A breeze picked up that pulled her hair from her eyes and whipped her heavy shawl to the side, but she ignored it as she made her final descent to the junk plain that separated her from the valley in which the weapon rested. Sith stood across from her; mere shadows in the landscape that were already advancing towards her small group. It was too late now to hide their presence.

Maia didn't look back to those who followed her, nor did she look to either side. It took no strength to compel her legs forward, no internal chatter to convince her to fight. This was a fate she welcomed, but the closer she drew to the Sith weapon, the louder it beat in her mind and the more her hand trembled for the awesome power it held. She had once told Atton that she thought she was falling, that she feared where she might land if she was ever to encounter the dark side in all of its strength again. Never once had she expected to find a weapon imbued with it and forged in it.

Never once did she expect to be so tempted.

The wind blew harder on the open plain. It forced the planet's stench into her nose, mouth, eyes. Tears blurred her vision and dripped from her chin and Maia wished now that she been trained as Zeta had been trained if only to protect herself from the noxious air. She hadn't the confidence to cover her eyes otherwise. So she wiped at them, ridding them of moisture as best she could. Still, she wept and squinting hardly helped at all.

The Sith troops picked up speed as she tried to clear her vision. It was only an advance guard, hardly more than thirty soldiers and dark Jedi, and Maia couldn't help but smirk once she could see again. Whoever was leading them must not know her reputation very well otherwise he would have sent more. And Maia found herself wishing that he would have sent more. She needed the warm up before dealing with the Reaper.

Drawing her lightsaber, she matched the army's pace and activated the weapon only seconds before meeting the fastest of the dark Jedi. She swept his blade above his head and blasted him in the chest with the Force before continuing on into the pack, engaging another, their blades clashing. She used her forward momentum to try and knock him off balance as she spun, her shawl whipping around her like a short cape, but he recovered quickly and came for her again, Maia there to meet his every strike. And again.

The angrier the man grew, the more he faltered and at length, Maia was able to duck under his weapon. Catching his chin with an uppercut, she grabbed the stunned man's sword arm as he stumbled backwards and cut him down before he had the chance to recover. As he fell, Maia took his weapon to stop another Sith from doing the same to her. It took little effort to dispatch him from this life and she left the borrowed hilt buried deep in his abdomen to belay half a dozen soldiers with the Force before engaging a third dark Jedi who died as easily as her companions.

In the pause that followed, Maia formed a hood from her shawl, narrowing her focus. Maybe, she thought, it would keep the Reaper out of her mind. Wishful thinking.

_Maia…_it whispered.

Shaking her head and deflecting a blaster bolt with the gloved part of her palm, Maia reached for the neck of the soldier with the same hand, choking him with the Force, snapping his neck in two. She threw him into one of the other soldiers like a rag doll, pinning the smaller man beneath the body of his comrade. He struggled to get out—panicked to get away. And Maia only regarded him for a moment before descending on him as he tried to stand and attacking with an upward stroke to cleave his body in two as he managed to sit. The other soldiers hesitated, their fear rolling from them in waves. This was not the meek Jedi they had been told about and Maia hesitated as she read their thoughts.

Who had called her meek? A part of her mind knew and whispered the name of a fallen comrade, but Maia wasn't listening. _It couldn't be_, a different part thought. _They're all dead._

Shaking her head once, she took the length of their indecision to find her friends and see how they fared against their enemy. Mira and Atton stood apart from the battle having found cover and were shooting at the Sith who attacked the others. The only soldier she saw to venture too close received the full brunt of Atton's Echani training, his neck broken before he could even think to respond to a man who wore little armor of his own. Maia's heart swelled at the sight. She wouldn't have to worry about him surviving this fight.

She looked next to Zeta who seemed to dance across the ground as she engaged dark Jedi and soldiers alike. Each parry, thrust, kick, punch slid gracefully one into the next, the blade of her sword hardly visible against sky and planet. She used the momentum of her opponents against them, throwing them to the ground and tripping them when they expected to be met with a resistance that would halt their drive. Some who fell were buried beneath garbage as she engaged more; others saw nothing but the sick sky and Zeta's matching blade.

It took an advancing soldier to bring Maia back to those enemies around her. She stopped the large man's punch only inches from her face and reactivated her lightsaber into his belly. Pushing him off the blade with a kick, Maia had to scramble to catch a descending Sith lightsaber on her own before it could get too close. She hadn't sensed this new presence.

Her heart fluttered with recognition. Her mind didn't pay attention, still.

Grunting as the other woman pressed against her, she had to use the strength of her entire body to break the lock, growling as she did it.

The two women spun away from each other, then, and stared across a ragged circle of soldiers—reinforcements the woman had brought with her, taunting each other without words. They paused for barely the length of a heartbeat, though, before Maia leapt above the woman's Force blast and dashed through the air towards her, hoping to slam into her from above. But the woman simply swept Maia to the side with a flick of her wrist and a stroke of the Force. Her fall was followed by debris and as she rolled to her feet, Maia was hardly able to avoid the metal that rained down on her, slicing an engine pod in two and sending another back at the woman, who threw it into the soldiers, killing three of them.

Maia tried again to smash her opponent under wreckage, digging into the uneven ground beneath their feet for ammunition, but each time the woman was able to push the falling metal to one side or the other. Some struck down her allies, others did not. Some were crushed as the two women jockeyed to gain control.

There was something familiar about this one, Maia thought as her conscious mind finally caught up. She wiped her vision clear of blood, sweat, and grime, but couldn't get a clear view through the blonde hair that swept the woman's face, shielding it. It wasn't Revan—that Maia knew for sure—but she had been touched by her; another of the Jedi who had followed her into darkness, though Maia couldn't put a name to the ruined face. Her heart cried it out to her.

_No,_ she thought. It hardly mattered who this woman was or had once been. She had no choice but to defeat her in order to get to the weapon and knowing would only make it worse.

Revan had made her kill their classmates by the end of the wars, telling her that it was for the good of the entire galaxy. That they had fallen. That they were no longer the friends they had grown up with. Maia hated doing it, but followed her orders to the letter, never questioning her leader's intentions. And once Revan had come back to fight the Republic, Maia couldn't help but wonder if she had been agent to getting rid of the competition. Was she responsible for the deaths of so many?

She took in a sharp breath, then. There were only three she hadn't been charged with killing. One was dead, the other male. The name beat in her chest, still, and this time she listened.

"I wondered how long it would take you," the woman said as recognition dawned in Maia's eyes. "And I must say that I'm impressed you did it so quickly. We all figured your exile would dull your mind beyond all reason. I dare say it practically has despite this small miracle."

"Danijela," Maia said with a growl. "You should have known better than that, Commander." She snarled out the rank, using it as a harsh insult, knowing the affect it would have on the other woman.

And she sneered, just as expected. It pleased Maia to hurt her. "She babied you, Maia, chickadee, and gave you a post you didn't deserve. It should have gone to someone older and wiser than a child."

"Someone like you? An old Padawan?" Maia said. "I hardly believe you would have sacrificed your life to save the galaxy."

"And you weren't even able to do that right." She gestured to one of her dark Jedi. "Kill them."

"I won't satisfy you so easily as that," Maia called after the woman as she turned to walk away, flanked and protected by a small legion of soldiers.

"Oh," the woman said without turning, "I find that you shall. The will of the Dark Lady be done."

Maia laughed. "You aren't strong enough to take up that mantle. It's why she didn't choose you. You couldn't even take the title of Knight in fear of what the Council might have done once they found out. _Commander_."

The woman turned and stared at Maia, her eyes blazing. "I will make you beg before I am done with you. Remember, child, the name of Destra. May she find mercy for an old friend yet. If not, my weapon shall delight in feeding upon your soul."

Destra turned with a sweep of her cloak—a perfect imitation of the way Revan had moved—and stepped onto a small skiff to retreat back to the Reaper. And Maia just watched her leave, knowing she would see her again soon and squinting against the wind, before returning to the battle. She had to finish up here before she could take care of the woman she had once called friend. There weren't very many of them left.

The circle closed in on her.

Slicing one man's arm off at the elbow, she ducked beneath a punch only to be caught in the chin with a boot. Throwing herself into a confined back flip with the momentum of the kick, Maia jumped straight up the moment she touched the ground and blasted the soldiers with the Force, knocking them from their feet. Landing amongst them, she spat out the blood that filled her mouth before any could get back up. There were only a few and each struggled, their bodies broken under the force of her attack.

Without another thought, Maia left them to die as they would and stalked across the battlefield, her knuckles bleeding, ugly bruises standing in stark contrast against her pale skin. Any who dared challenge her quickly discovered their mistake as they lost limb and life.

--

And in the aftermath of the small battle while her friends finished off the soldiers left standing and Zeta went to those lying in the rubble, killing any who could still draw a breath, Maia finally looked back at the Dark Reaper. It had loomed over them like a living shadow and for every breath that Maia now drew, so did it; for every beat of her heart, so did it beat. Destra had called it her weapon, but as Maia looked at it she couldn't help but wonder if it had chosen a different companion.

_Maia…_

Would her vision come to pass?

"Maia?"

She heard her name but not the voice that had spoken it. Turning, she noticed that her friends had gathered behind her, each showing wounds. None seemed serious. Had one of them actually spoken?

"Maia?" Mical. She blinked once. And then again.

"Yes?" she replied at length.

"Do you want us to press on?"

She looked at him, staring as if she couldn't comprehend his words. Working her jaw to respond, she second guessed herself and turned away, rubbing at her mouth. She had led them this far in full confidence and Maia didn't know what it was that stopped her from giving the order to charge back into battle, swords and blasters blazing. Her mind whispered the name of the Dark Lady, but she shook her head. She had killed friends before and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Destra had to be stopped.

Perhaps, she thought, she was stopping herself. She was afraid of the Reaper's power and of what she might have to do in order to stop it. She didn't even know how it worked and had it not been for the lightning that arced between the towering pillars, she would have gladly retreated for the night, sure it wasn't ready to be used.

_No_, she thought, they had to do it now. Waiting any longer would surely mean the death of them all.

And of everyone else.

Turning back to her friends, Maia toyed with the hilt of her lightsaber before putting it away.

"You all know what you must do," she said, "and I won't ask you to do what I command. I haven't that sort of power over you, I never have. Know that I love each and every one of you for following me this far and for putting yourself into harm's way time and again, but I can't ask you to come with me now. I won't stop you if you choose to follow me back into battle—you all have the will to do as you would—and I will thank you now if you choose to fight. I might not be able to afterwards."

Mira looked at her, nursing a sore arm. "Are you crazy? Of course we're coming with you. I haven't gotten my ass kicked too many times to count to let you go off and face them on your own. I'm not that kind of a girl. I don't leave my friends behind."

Maia found that she was able to smile despite the end they were facing.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't," Mira said. "I don't want it."

"Why?"

The other woman shrugged. "Because this isn't a favor. Not from me, not from any of us. We're doing it because we have to do it."

Maia shook her head. "You don't have to do anything for me."

"Yes, Maia, we do."

Maia looked to each of them and each nodded back. It wasn't the bond she had inspired that was compelling them to put their life on the line for her, it was the love that swelled in their breast for the woman who had given them a life better than the one they had known before. She had affected them for the better despite their numerous battles and they, in turn, had made her life worth living. Even, she thought, worth dying for.

She wanted to thank them again. Instead, she went to Mira and hugged tightly her before pulling Bao-Dur and Mical into a similar embrace. Zeta received a nod and a smile, a touch on the arm. And when she came to Atton she could tell that he was still sore from their argument despite what was about to happen. He couldn't help it; Maia didn't know if she would have wanted him to.

Cupping his cheek, she smiled when he turned a kiss into her fingers. He needn't say a word or do anything other than look at her. She knew. She had known for a long time.

Squeezing his fingers with her other hand and stroking her thumb over the rough growth of stubble on his bleeding chin, Maia turned and took in a deep breath.

"It's time," she whispered. No longer looking at her friends, she ran for the cliff. There was still a distance to cover, but she didn't feel it as she dashed over the broken landscape, accelerating the closer she drew to the Reaper. The Force was with her; it always had been. Even through the years of her exile, she had known it was there, whispering to her in her dreams, not letting her forget.

She would never forget.

The Reaper's valley opened before her like a scar, the edges ragged and sharp as if the Sith had simply blasted away the ships and the droids to make room for their weapon, but it would not hinder her. She wouldn't let it.

Not letting up, though her lungs burned for the air, Maia ran up a twisted piece of hull and launched herself into the sky. Before the fall of the day, Destra would know why Maia had been chosen above all others. Not revenge—Maia wouldn't let it turn into revenge—but a lesson for sure.

Drawing her weapon, she slammed into the top of a buried freighter, crouching into the landing and ignoring the pain that shot up her legs and one hand. She didn't look at the stunned Sith as she activated her lightsaber and stood only when one of them dared to breathe, her eyes flashing in the green light of the blade and the yellow light of the sky. It was all they could see of her hooded face.

The Reaper pulsed through the Force, in her chest, in her mind.

It breathed with her.

It called to her.

And she could only smile in return.


	22. Twenty One

_A/N: Oh shoot. I am so sorry for not updating in so long! I've been working on a fairly complicated non-fanfic novel and it's sucking up all of my free time these days. Damn, how time flies. I'll try to do better with the next one...  
_

_Also, about halfway through writing this story, I came across a movie/television-pilot-that-never-quite-made-it that gives a pretty accurate depiction of how I imagine Maia's foresight works. It's called _Thoughtcrimes_ and is from 2002 or so. It's also basically impossible to find unless you know a pirate, so if you can get your hands on it, give it a looksie if you feel so inclined, if only because it's a fun 90 minutes._

_

* * *

_

Chapter Twenty-One

Maia felt young again. She felt as she had during the Mandalorian Wars when she was one with the Force, back before she had lost the capacity to hear it sing. And even though she had regained her abilities and was stronger now for it, she had never felt so fully attuned to the Force as she had back then.

She slashed. She killed. She danced. It was as if the Sith were throwing themselves on her blade, they died so easily. Even the brutish Mandalorians had been more of a challenge though none of them could touch the Force as her current opponents could. To Maia, Destra's army seemed twice its actual number, their every movement visible to her seconds before they actually attacked. She could break through their defenses. She could strike them down before they knew what was upon them. The only Sith that came close nearly sliced off the back of her head. It wouldn't happen again.

Nor would he get the chance. Without standing from her crouch, Maia extended her hand and blasted him in the chest. The Sith cried out as he flew through the air and only his screams followed him down a narrow ravine, though he tried to use the Force to pull Maia with him. A smile crept across her face as she stood to engage another.

The Force flowed through her like water down a hill as she stalked the battlefield. When she called upon it, it was there to do as she asked. It tingled in her fingers. She didn't know why.

Maia had always assumed that her ability to use the Force was directly related to the amount of life that surrounded her. She could always hear it, whether she was in dead space or on a planet such as Dxun, but it had always been louder when she was surrounded by living things. And though the Sith army was vast, the rest of the planet was lifeless. Why, then, could she hear it so clearly? Her eyes fell on the Dark Reaper as another Sith died on her blade.

It wasn't the dark side because she wouldn't let it be the dark side. And it wasn't the Reaper because she wouldn't let it be the Reaper. It was only her. Finally, _finally_, she was Jedi.

All of her work had paid off. All of those hours she had spent training; all of those years she had spent waiting. She was Jedi.

_I am Jedi._

But she couldn't deny how the Dark Reaper loomed over the battle, a dark energy radiating from it, calling to her. It spoke her name in the dark recesses of her mind and though she ignored its whispers and cries, her every step took her closer to its massive hull.

_Maia…_

No.

_Maia…_

"No!" Her outburst stopped an advancing soldier in his tracks. He tilted his helmeted head to one side as if assessing her sanity and in the time he spent thinking, Maia stared right back at him, not quite seeing him. It was the motion of a lifting blaster that finally snapped her back into reality.

She grabbed the rifle before he could bring it fully to bear and twisted it from his grip. Throwing it to the side, Maia forewent using her lightsaber and sheathed it instead. The move surprised the man, as did her use of the Force to tear his helmet from his head, the latches ripping with a terrible screech. He was young and handsome. It would be a shame having to kill him.

The soldier threw the first punch, but Maia easily deflected it to the side, catching his forearm and flipping him onto his back. He grunted and stayed where he was for half a second before realizing that Maia wasn't going to kill him where he lay. Instead, she beckoned for him to stand. He did and tried to hit her again the moment he gained his feet, and again he was stopped, though Maia didn't manage to get him on the ground this time. He pushed her off, but Maia didn't go very far.

She punched him first in the jaw, and then again in the cheek before he made a move to stop her. Still, she was able to get a kick in before he grabbed her wrist and drew her close, snarling at her as he did and muttering insults that Maia chose not to listen to as she wrapped her leg around his, knocking him over and trying to get away. He continued to hold on to her arm, however, and took her down with him, throwing her over his head. But she tugged out of his grip before she could fall completely, gaining her feet and snarling back in his direction. He looked up at her and barred his teeth once more, but Maia was done playing.

The Reaper's silence pulsed through her mind.

Crouching and drawing a military-issue knife from her boot, Maia lunged at the soldier as he stood and slid the blade between the plates of his armor, knocking them both to the ground once more. They tumbled down a short incline, one over the other and then again and by the time they stopped, the solider was dead and Maia had to push her way out from under him, grunting. He was heavier than he looked and his blood made his armor slick.

She drew in a breath, then, and felt it reverberate through her chest. She drew another and looked to the Force weapon. She could hardly tell anymore if it breathed for her or her for it.

It scared her more than anything ever had.

It wanted her to use it and as the battle brought her closer to where it stood, she was having trouble finding the strength to keep it out. Even as she defeated enemy after enemy, the Reaper sat there in the back of her mind.

_Maia_…

She shook her head.

_Jedi_…

She tried to ignore it.

A pile of bodies began to grow around her as she engaged another Sith, and then another. She blocked an attack with her lightsaber and called a battle-axe from the grasp of a long-dead scavenger to her free hand. In one motion, Maia swept the Sith's lightsaber above his head and swung the axe into his side, releasing it as he stumbled back. Within moments, the Sith fell dead, the axe cutting him nearly in two.

Leaving the borrowed weapon where it was, Maia stepped over the dead man and lifted her hand, pushing a dozen soldiers into a group of dark Jedi who used their weapons to avoid being crushed. A faint smile touched her lips.

The Reaper cast its shadow upon her.

She turned, then, and tore the weapon from another Sith before gripping his throat in her hand and digging her exposed fingers into his flesh, snapping his neck and dispatching him from this life. Still holding the dead man, Maia used him as a shield against an attack from a soldier before Atton shot him down.

"Thanks," she muttered into her earpiece, letting go.

"My pleasure," he responded.

She glanced back at the place he had taken cover in the debris before turning away to look for her apprentice, curious about how he fared against the army. And when she found him, he was trying to fight off three dark Jedi. He managed to cut one down just as Maia crested the short ridge above him, but the death of that opponent did little to relieve his work. His technique was excellent. His stamina, however, was waning. Maia blamed herself for not training him harder.

_Why didn't I teach him everything?_ she wondered as she watched.

Maia had known this battle was coming, had dreamt about it and meditated on it. She had spent hours alone in her cabin, fighting unseen opponents until she was exhausted. Something must have distracted her from her duties as a teacher. She glanced first towards Atton and then at Zeta, who needed help from no one.

The Dark Reaper stood only tens of meters away, now.

Deflecting several blaster bolts back at their shooters, Maia wiped her mind of guilt and vaulted herself off a piece of debris, crushing the chest of a surprised dark Jedi as she slammed him into the ground and giving Mical the chance to defeat the third.

"Thank you," he said.

Maia wiped a dirty curl from her face. "You looked like you needed some help."

"Yes, I haven't had much opportunity to practice against another opponent of late."

Maia winced, but said, "There're drones on the ship, you know."

Mical looked at her, his brow lifted. "We both know they aren't a very good substitute for another person, Maia."

She didn't respond right away. "I've been a little distracted what with trying to save the galaxy. Again."

"So I've noticed."

Still, she frowned. "I'll do better when we get out of here," she said without sounding convinced. "I promise."

"I know you will." He touched her wrist. "I have faith in you."

She just looked at him before turning to the soldiers that were streaming down the side of their little gully, wishing she could say the same as she activated her lightsaber once more.

They fought the soldiers that came for them, defeating one after the next. They blocked blaster bolts for each other and stopped swords before they could separate head from shoulders. They fought as Master and Padawan should fight, attuned to the needs of the other and the dangers that surrounded them. They fought as they had before the appearance of Zeta.

But no matter how many they stopped, more came for them. This was what she had been expecting from the time she leapt into the valley. To be overwhelmed. Before now it had been too easy. Before now, she hadn't been thinking. She had been a machine and it frightened her.

Maia used the Force to push four soldiers from their advance on Mical's back before going after them one by one. The last of the sudden onslaught. Looking around, Maia slid her bloody thumb off the activation switch.

The world was silent.

"Why?" she asked no one.

Mical opened his mouth to speak but didn't get far as Destra appeared above them. Her cape fluttered around her feet as she approached, the yellow of her corrupted eyes glowing brighter for the sky, the Dark Reaper looming behind her.

"I don't know why you even bother trying, little girl," she said, stopping on the very edge of the ridge. "My army is vast and your foolish friends don't understand what kind of power it takes to rule an entire galaxy, otherwise they wouldn't have followed you so blindly." She paused. "But you know don't you, General? Is that why you're attempting to reduce our numbers?"

"Do you really think you'll be able to take Revan's place?" Maia asked again.

"I already have, or didn't you understand that the first time I told you? All Sith are loyal to me now."

"No Sith has ever been loyal, Danijela," Maia said, refusing to use her chosen name. "If you don't die here, then they will kill you surely as you breathe."

"None would dare."

"That's what we all thought about her."

Destra bared her teeth, double-blades activating in a flash of crimson—a new weapon. Maia lifted her brow and wondered briefly why.

"I have a weapon Revan did not."

"At least the Star Forge could sustain itself. Your Reaper will destroy you."

"Do not underestimate the Reaper's power, chickadee. I have modified it, made it better. It will not kill the Sith who controls it. It will only make her stronger. But you, you will die. So will your friends. And my power will be infinite."

Maia's eyes narrowed. She couldn't decide if Destra was lying to her or not. There wasn't any reason to, considering how the Sith liked to gloat over their achievements. Still, it seemed too terrible to believe.

"I will stop you," Maia said.

"Do your worst."

A smile spread across Destra's lips as she reached for the sky and the Reaper behind her, a bolt of lightning streaking through the air towards them.

"Watch out!" Maia cried, pushing Mical to one side before diving to the other, the lightning opening a small crater where they had just been standing. Maia rolled out of the way of another bolt before coming to her feet and watching in horror as Destra turned her attention instead to Mical. He managed to block the first attack with his lightsaber, but the blade shorted out, too weak to withstand the Reaper's power. The second struck him in the shoulder, passing through skin and bone without destroying the limb, his clothing barely singed.

He looked surprised, at first, and took a step forward, as if nothing had happened. His next step, however, took him to his knees. Looking at his shoulder and then to Maia, he collapsed into the rusted ground.

"No!" Maia ran to his side, ignoring Destra and her weapon, and skidded to her knees next to him, pressing her hand against the spot that should have been charred. Something tingled up her arm. He didn't open his eyes. Gripping at his tunic, she looked back at Destra. "What have you done to him?"

"I've taken his power," Destra said. "Or at least some of it." She gestured to someone. "I will have you bound and gagged before I take the rest, your eyelids cut so you will have no choice but to watch. I will take the Force from each of your disciples before I allow you to die. And if you go mad, maybe I'll take you as my own. You've become powerful, Maia. I could use you."

"He's my only apprentice," Maia said, holding him.

"Then what of the other four?"

Maia looked up at Destra, a furrow in her brow. "Only two of them can touch the Force and one is already Jedi," she said.

Destra laughed. It was just as Maia remembered it. "You always were a little blind."

Maia looked back at Mical, watching him breathe and wondering how she had missed something so big as the other two became sudden blazes in the Force. Were Mira and Bao-Dur the lost Jedi? Maia had been too busy trying to stay alive to listen to Kreia's final ramblings and too angry to believe them even though the old Sith had never lied to her. They had the luck of undiscovered disciples and the grace of movement that came with touching the Force. They had always been quick. How could that have gone so unnoticed?

Her breath quickened as she searched the ground for answers. Atton had distracted her, so had Zeta. And Revan. She hadn't focused on anyone else in her desire to live before leaving them behind. She had become selfish. Careless. Sith.

_Maia…_

She shook her head, trying to clear the Reaper's voice from it. But when something said her name again, this time out loud, she looked up.

Atton came into view first, his hands shackled, blood staining his skin and clothing. A soldier sneered something at him before kicking the back of his ankles and sending him to his knees. Mira and Bao-Dur received similar treatment, their eyes on Mical as they kneeled before their captors. Zeta, though fettered and collared as well, managed to take down at least one of the guards that flanked her before receiving a punch from the other, her lip splitting open as she fell to his feet. Laughing, the soldier pressed his boot against her throat. The young woman was still blindfolded.

_Maia…_

She got to her feet and stroked Mical's cheek once before standing completely. Calling her lightsaber from where it had fallen, the blade sprang to life the moment the hilt touched her hand, diseased in the toxic light. She didn't look at her friends, nor did she look at the soldiers and dark Jedi that had joined the others on the ridge. Instead, her eyes went to the weapon behind Destra and the nothingness that emanated from it.

_Maia…_

She advanced slowly, ignoring the looks her friends were giving her and pulled a hood over her head once more to shield them from her vision. They would only serve as distractions and she couldn't afford to think of anything but the Reaper and Destra. This had to end before it began and Maia knew that she was the only one capable of doing it. The others had allowed themselves to get captured; she wouldn't let it happen to her.

She drew in a breath and the Reaper seemed to echo it back. Destra raised her hand, calling upon her weapon to strike Maia down, but the younger woman stepped to the side, the lightning avoiding her by inches. Destra tried again, and again Maia remained standing. Something crossed through the Dark Lady's eyes. Maia couldn't tell what it was.

"You should have died with Malachor," Destra said.

"Yes," Maia replied, "I should have."

They stared at each other for the length it took Maia to climb the hill. Destra even stepped back to give her a patch of even ground to stand on and Maia wondered why. Was the woman she had called friend still in there somewhere, locked within the confines of her own mind? A part of Maia wanted to reach out to her, to heal her and save her. The other part wanted Destra to die the most terrible kind of death. She had never really liked her anyway.

Maia struck first, but Destra's spinning blades were there to stop her and counter her. She tried again, but couldn't get through the crimson wall. Destra laughed and attacked, trying to drive Maia back towards the edge of the ridge and Maia had no choice but to go the way Destra wanted her to. Blocking one blade meant leaving the other free to do as it would and that was something Maia couldn't have.

She danced the rusted ground with her opponent and flipped backwards once to get away from Destra's weapon. Holding up her free hand as she continued to back away, she reached out blindly into the Force, looking for any free lightsaber she could find. She didn't know if there were any, but searched anyway. There was no way she would be able to fight long against the double-blade without two of her own.

Daring to close her eyes, she reached out further, a smile touching her lips as she found what she was looking for. It took barely a flip of her wrist to tear the weapon from the soldier's belt and another to activate Zeta's sulfur blade. It was a strange weight in her left hand, but as she spun it once, and then again, she found that she could ignore it. She had to. They would all die otherwise.

But when she looked back to where Destra had been standing, the woman was gone. Maia cursed herself and looked around, tightening her grip on the weapons she held.

A bolt of lightning from the Reaper broke Maia's concentration, an involuntary shriek escaping her lips as she leapt back. She had to dive away from the next bolt and continue rolling as another followed. Leaping to her feet once more, Maia ran into a gathering of soldiers, striking down those who attacked and ignoring those that Destra killed. She leapt again, just avoiding a bolt that had come too close, and gathered the Force around her as she hung momentarily in mid-air. When she could no longer hold it, Maia sent the energy towards Destra, who thwarted it with a blast of Force lightning from the tips of her fingers.

Maia landed in a crouch, ducking under a thrown piece of machinery and slicing the next into three pieces, her heart pounding in her chest, the Reaper's lightning pulsing in time.

She rolled to the side as a soldier attempted to finish his mistress's work and killed him, separating his legs from his torso and his head from his neck. She dove away from another lightning attack, landing at the booted feet of some Sith. Looking up from beneath the cowl of her hood, Maia wasn't surprised to see that it was Destra standing over her, a wide smile on her ruined face.

Maia stood.

"General," Destra said almost gently as she activated her blade.

"Padawan," Maia replied as a strange coldness pressed into her abdomen, her thumb faltering as she tried to keep her blade alive. She couldn't…

Looking first at her stomach, a cavern where skin and gut should have been, and then to the sky as white pain blossomed across every nerve and fiber, Maia took in a gasping breath and dropped her weapons, the sky swirling into indistinct colours; Destra stepped away. She looked next to her friends through a break in the soldiers, blinking once, blinking twice. They were screaming and struggling against their guards, Atton gaining his feet before being kicked back to the ruined hull of a ship, a boot ground into his shoulder. They were moving in slow motion, as were the clouds and the colours that painted them.

She drew in a breath and heard it whistle in a place that it shouldn't. She drew in another and closed her eyes, the colours dancing there, too, in the darkness. Dying had never been so beautiful before.


	23. Twenty Two

A/N – I blame it on the weather. Damn you, sun!

Chapter Twenty-Two

She could hear her friends screaming and crying her name as she fell to her knees, her eyes opening once more.

She could hear the army cheer as their leader walked among them, accepting their congratulations.

And she could do nothing else but fall to her side, the rusted metal cool against her cheek.

_Idiot Padawan_, she thought as she laid a hand on the hole in her belly and watched Destra's retreating back. Even a Jedi knew to make sure her opponent was dead.

At least breathing was easier this time.

Gasping in the noxious air, her gut still whistling with every breath—a synthetic lung thanks to Kreia—Maia turned back to the sky. It danced before her. Yellow, white, red. Colours she had no name for. Colours she didn't know she could see. She looked then to the wound in her abdomen, an ugly gaping thing that should have been bleeding. The skin was burned black, the muscle blistered and pink. Sick daylight shined through from the other side.

It didn't hurt. Why didn't it hurt?

_Maia…_

She jerked her head to one side, but the Reaper wouldn't leave her alone. It whispered a drone of screaming children and screaming ships. It whispered sweet promises directly into her brain and the harder Maia tried to push it out, the further it burrowed in. It was nothingness.

It was everything.

Struggling to gain her feet, Maia stood, doubling in pain as her body tried to use muscles that no longer existed. She drew in a shuttering breath and tried to straighten once more, her hand over her wound, but again she fell forward onto her knees and one hand.

A nearby soldier took notice of her struggle and helped out by giving her a swift kick in the ribs that barely missed the hole in her gut. Maia cried out in pain, and again when he chose to strike her once more.

The man laughed while Maia cried, tears dripping from her nose.

The next time he tried to kick her, however, Maia was quicker, strength touching her where none should be. She grabbed his foot just inches from her wound and pulled as hard as she could. He stumbled and moved to shake her free when a bolt of lightning slid through the air and into his chest. Maia expected to be shocked. Instead, the same strange feeling she had felt after touching Mical crept up her arm and pooled in her chest. Another bolt struck the man, killing him this time, his life force passing into Maia before she could release him in disgust.

Looking up at the Reaper, Maia didn't notice the skin beneath her fingers moving and stitching itself back together. It wasn't until she moved her hand and expected to feel her fingers slide into what had once been a cavity that she looked down. The new scar tissue gleamed. Reaching around, she touched the spot where Destra's blade had protruded from her back. The same smooth skin met her fingers. She breathed in silence.

"Maia!" she heard someone yell. Ignoring him, she looked up at the Reaper as it, too, spoke her name. She wouldn't believe Destra had been telling the truth. She couldn't have been telling the truth. Maia looked at her hand. It tingled with the life the soldier had given her.

"No," she muttered as she stood. Pushing hair out of her face, she found Destra in the crowd, knowing what she had to do with her third chance at life.

Taking up both her and Zeta's lightsabers, she stalked the length of the army, surprise following in her wake. She was supposed to be dead. Their leader was supposed to be the victor.

But Maia didn't follow Destra right away. Instead, she went to her friends, silently killing their guards and others, cutting their shackles and ripping the inhibitor collars from their necks. The only few Sith that noticed died before they could make a sound. All others had their eyes turned to Destra as she ascended the massive steps of her weapon. Maia made sure of it.

"You were dead," Atton said.

Maia just shook her head. "Stay here and stay down otherwise you'll end up dead, too."

"I can't just stay here," he said, grabbing her by the wrist.

"Yes," Maia said, "you can. I won't lose you."

She bent over him where he kneeled and leaned a kiss into his mouth. She could feel the others watching her, but didn't care, not now, not when she expected to die for real. Destra was too powerful. And that machine…

Breaking away from Atton as he reached to stop her again, Maia took a break in the soldiers and didn't look back, even as the men and women stirred with her sudden presence.

None of them could touch her. A smile spread across her lips.

Leaping over the final ranks of the army, Maia landed just as Destra turned to see what dared to disturb her triumph, faltering in her step when her eyes fell on Maia. Maia, in turn, lifted her brow and shrugged.

"You're dead," Destra said.

"That seems to be the general consensus," Maia replied.

Destra bared her teeth and called upon her machine, but it didn't respond. She tried again, turning towards the center of the weapon and using both hands, but the Reaper would not obey. Lightning still flickered up its pillars and arced from one to the next, but it would not strike where Destra asked it to.

"No," she whispered.

Maia watched Destra turn a glance back over her shoulder before the woman hastened her journey up the ever-heightening steps, moving towards the platform that stood in the center of the machine. But rather than going after her, Maia waited, gathering her strength. She wasn't exactly sure why she didn't pursue Destra the moment she could, but something was telling her to wait.

Her skin prickled. She drew in another silent breath.

She went.

Accelerating over the long dead ships, Maia took the first step of the molded, black metal hull, and then the next. She had to work to get up them, each one slightly taller than the last, but she was gaining on Destra, who seemed to struggle near the end even though smaller steps had been carved into the larger ones to ease passage to the central platform.

Only a few steps down, Maia activated her lightsabers, her every leap powered by the Force. Destra turned where she stood and got her weapon out just as Maia slammed into her, driving her backwards into the stairway. Destra managed to kick Maia off, however, and jumped back to her feet, still holding the higher ground.

Their blades clashed again, sizzling, whining. Feet met soft flesh; bruises blossomed beneath the dirt, blood, and grime.

And so they fought up the final steps, graceful and terrible. A small series of clear platforms clicked into place as Maia drove Destra out over the pit, little but blackness beneath their feet. Lightning followed in their wake; Maia didn't want to know where this sudden surge of strength came from. She had always been so mediocre.

"You can still turn back," Maia said once they reached the platform, though she didn't know why. Habit. "I can still sense you in there, Danijela."

"Don't try," Destra replied, barely able to keep up with Maia anymore. "They never accepted you after you left, so I don't know why you try so hard to be like them, little Padawan."

Maia's eyes flashed and with an upward stroke, she split Destra's weapon in two, the blades shorting out. Dropping her ruined sword, the Dark Lady fell to her knees, her chin bare centimeters above Maia's glowing blade.

"I earned that rank." Maia's chest heaved up and down. "You know it. Alek knew it. You might have seen me as young and weak then, but look now who is the only one left."

"No," Destra said. "Valen is alive and so is Raema. You know they are. You can still feel them living there beneath your heart, as can I. Find them, chickadee."

"How?"

Destra's eyes slid past her to where her friends remained kneeling. "You know how. You've known for a long time."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I haven't that kind of wisdom," Destra said softly, more and more like her old self and Maia wondered why. It was always the same. "Only you."

Maia's eyes widened in her anger and though a small part of her still wanted to save this woman she used to call friend, the rest wanted Destra dead. She had been agent to Maia's suffering. She had laughed at her and damned her in front of Revan, turning their leader's favor away from her. Maia knew that now as she looked into Destra's mind and her heart clenched with a hatred she had never known before.

It was all the permission the Reaper needed.

The lightning that had followed them grew in a great shield around Maia, hissing and crackling. It passed through her without harm, killing her weapons, killing Destra.

"No!" Maia cried despite herself. She reached for the other woman but Destra's body fell away from her, backwards into the pit to disappear into the darkness below.

_You know how to find them, General…_

"Danijela," she murmured as white light and lightning surrounded her, giving her the strength Destra's body had left behind. She looked to her hands, the skin barely visible beneath the blood and grime, the little half-gloves she wore torn and burnt. Her fingers glowed from some source beneath her skin and she felt stronger still, her heart beating, pounding. She took in a breath and wondered briefly how the Reaper had healed her artificial lung.

_Maia…_ it whispered through her mind, the sweetest thing she had ever heard. _With us, Maia…_

She turned and dropped her weapons, giving in.

She could see it happening. She could feel the power surge into her hands, up her arms, and throughout her entire body. Lightning burned her palms and she threw her head back in ecstasy and anguish as the weapon activated around her. She couldn't stop… She didn't know if she wanted to.

The Dark Reaper crackled beneath her and above her, the same lightning that surged through her body now licking its surface in a terrible dance, each pillar flashing with terrible light. Soon, Maia couldn't tell if the lightning was coming from her or from the machine as it spread, touching everything.

Why had she let it in?

Because she could end it.

_father…_

The screams of a thousand dying Sith hardly made it to her ears as their thoughts ravaged her brain…

_mother…_

…the cries of her Padawan as he woke were lost completely to the din of the dying.

_maia…_

She could feel her feet leave the cold metal platform as the junkyard around her burned black, the husks of Sith hardly recognizable as human or otherwise falling the further the lightning reached. Something dark pulsed beneath the debris, pounding in her ear, pounding in her chest.

The slow beat of her heart. The slow beat of the Reaper as it melded itself to her and fed her.

Sweat mixed with tears, stinging Maia's eyes, and she called on the Force to give her the strength to keep this new power out and to stop this machine. _Why?_ She had to stop it from killing everything. If only she could close her hands, everything would be okay, she thought. She had to believe it. She did believe it. _my chains will be broken…_

Her fingers flexed.

_…the force shall set me free._

She tried again, but couldn't move even her pinkie, the Reaper and her desire for its power drowning out the righteous part of her mind. Maia gasped, gulping down the rancid air, hardly able to breathe though her wound was completely healed. She arched her back, fighting the strength it gave her. But the harder she fought, the more she could feel them in there, all of them. In her fingers, toes, belly, chest, mind. She could feel them die, the arcing lightning stabbing through their chests, invisible tendrils of the Force flowing out of them and reaching back for her. They were there. All of them.

Why?

_they always said there would be light…_

Why was she hearing these thoughts? What gave her the right to intrude? What gave her right to their lives?

_What says you have to stop?_

Zeta.

Voices ravaged her mind. Crying voices, defiant voices. Voices praying to gods they had never believed in, giving her a power and strength she had only ever dreamed of.

Her eyes widened as another surge burst forth from her body and over the ranks of Sith. Now she knew what Revan knew.

She felt stronger than she ever had before, the Force opening itself to her like a flower in bloom, revealing to her its most precious parts. In their childhood, Raema had told her about being able to feel every blade of grass on the Dantooine plain and every leaf of every tree within sight. Raema had known the thoughts of kath hounds and the joy of a bird in flight. The delight of an industrious insect.

_Do I have the strength_, Maia thought, _to help her again?_

_yes…_

She gasped again and fought against the weapon to see the destruction she caused, turning her head to find her friends beyond the veil of lightning and life-force. Mira and Bao-Dur were doubled in pain. Mical lay prone.

She couldn't tell if he was still alive. _why…_

Her eyes slid to the side to find the other two, Atton and Zeta. They were standing next to the others, their eyes on her, neither affected by the machine.

_Why?_

Maia's breath came quicker as she fought to break the Reaper's power despite her desire to take it all. She reached out for the white light of the Force she knew, the destruction around her growing, the floodgate opening a little more, but Maia didn't care as she tried to convince herself to stop; she could feel her power increase as more died, her desire for their power growing with it. A part of her brain knew that she had to stop before she killed her friends and destroyed another planet. A part of her brain didn't care. _This must be what falling feels like._

It felt so good.

This was what she had coveted in her vision. This was the only thing she needed to kill them. _To break them._ She didn't need her friends. She didn't need her lover. They would only hold her back when she sacrificed herself to save the galaxy.

Again.

A smile touched her lips as she closed her eyes and reached into the very bowels of this Reaper, taking its name as her own, spreading herself into every inch of its matte haul and dark mechanism. She was the Reaper now.

_Let them feel my wrath. _Let it rain down upon them, smolder them. Destroy them._ Let them feel the pain they inflict on the galaxy and force it under their skin until they burn with it. _Let their bodies reflect the pitch of their souls. _I am legion._

The lightning storm spread to encompass the entire valley as she reached into the depths of her mind to strike down every scavenger, Sith, and soldier; every evil. It ripped the Force from them and fed from them as she fed from it. The power was intoxicating. Enlivening. The power was ancient and deep.

_Soothsayer…_

Her eyes flew open, the sky slipping in front of her as their song touched her ear. She saw the girl child, the people; the destruction lain upon them by the ancestors of her Order. They had died on Korriban. They couldn't be here. The scar of their ruin couldn't have traveled so far across the galaxy.

Could it?

_Maia,_ Atton said in her mind.

The Sith were dead.

_soothsayer…_

They couldn't be here.

_Maia…_

"Atton," she heard her lips say. A different strength flooded her.

"Angel," he whispered.

She forced her head to turn to look at him, fighting against that which she wanted most. This was what would help her save the galaxy, not him. With this power she could smite them, these True Sith who dared to lurk on the edge of her peace. But her mind rebelled as Atton's eyes locked on hers for the length of an inhale. She wanted this. She wanted this more than she had ever wanted him.

_No._

She gasped, trying to tear her mind away from the place she had wrapped it around the machine and dove into his recesses to escape it, wrapping herself around his heart instead. His body jerked at the intrusion but he let her in.

He never let her in.

She spread herself along his limbs and pushed into his psyche, detaching herself from her body, breaking the bond that held her to the machine.

Forcing him to feel her darkness and her everything before she receded again.

With a scream that tore at the scars in her throat, Maia closed her arms across her chest and fell to her knees. Atton did the same, gripping at his chest, unable to breathe. A shock wave surged out from the weapon as Maia closed her eyes, knocking over anyone still able to stand. There was only one.

Maia curled down over her bent knees just trying to contain her newfound strength. She could feel it burning in her fingertips, its desire to be unleashed almost stronger than her ability to subdue it. It glowed beneath her skin and singed the delicate hairs on the back of her hands. Crying and wheezing with every breath, Maia fought it down, though it was somehow harder now that it was hers. She clenched her fists, her fingers still prickling pins and needles. She clenched her teeth. She cried. She wanted it so bad.

_why…_

Raxus Prime was quiet around her. Even the wind had died; it was silent, absolutely silent.

And when Maia was finally able to push back the desire to unleash her newfound power upon the broken galaxy, her hands still trembled with its memory and her desire to destroy them all.

Standing slowly, she turned to her friends. Mira was holding Mical's head in her lap as she shivered against her own pain. _why…_ The younger woman stroked his cheek, her eyes closed, whispering something that Maia couldn't hear. _why… _Bao-Dur was kneeling next to them, his skin blistered and burnt while Zeta had gotten to her feet, apparently unharmed, and Atton was suddenly there at her side. Looking at him, she fell into his arms, gasping in pain as the weight of his embrace touched her tingling skin.

_why…_

"What have I done?"

He didn't answer for a long time.

"I don't know, Maia."

_why…_


	24. Twenty Three

_A/N – Um. Oops? Time really got away from me this time, and with only two chapters left, too! Damn me. I blame the novel and the new job. Oh, and myself, because neither of the mentioned excuses have the intelligence to stay my hand. Enjoy._

_The lyrics are by Björk from her song "Jóga". _

_-/-  
_

Chapter Twenty-Three

_And you push me up to this state of emergence-y, _

_How beautiful to be._

They wanted to leave the planet as quickly as they could, but moving an unconscious Mical across the junkyard was nearly impossible. Everyone was injured and though they could all walk, their muscles were fatigued from the battle and the affects of the Reaper. They could barely get themselves over the hills and valleys, let alone their fallen comrade.

Before they were halfway back, Maia left them in order to retrieve the ship. She told them to stay put and asked Zeta to watch over the others in case anyone came looking for trouble. Atton, Mira, and Bao-Dur were too exhausted to quarrel about her chosen leadership before Maia took off over a ruined dreadnaught, disappearing from their sight. She paused at the top to look back the way they had come, the Reaper's valley a great maw of blackness.

She had set massive charges before leaving it behind in the hopes she could destroy its mechanism. The hull still stood there, its pillars touching the sky, but lightning no longer touched its surface, nor did its voice rumble through her mind. Hopefully, no one would be able to use it again. The Jedi had been stupid not to destroy it the first time. Maia would not repeat their mistake.

Turning, she studied the landscape in front of her before leaping to another hull and running, running. She killed the few remaining Sith that had managed to escape the Reaper before they knew what was upon them, their necks cut, crushed, or broken. Maia no longer cared. She had to get to the ship in order to save Mical. There was no way to know how long he would last.

Sliding down the side of a hill, Maia paused at the bottom, scavengers warbling in fright as they moved off into the junk to hide from her sudden appearance. She held no weapon in her hand, but she stood tall, her shoulders slung back, and the sight of her was enough. An angry wound cut across her cheek, nose, and eyebrow, the skin around it red and raw. Her body was burnt and bleeding, her clothing hanging on only by shreds. Her eyes glowed in the sick light of the setting sun and the new scar on her belly shined, too. It was hard to believe that less than a local day had passed.

She stood with her head held high despite her injuries. She was not proud in the wake of her tragedy, just tired of fighting and unable think of any other way besides killing them all to ensure the scavengers would not attack while she was in the midst of their territory.

Glancing around once more, Maia extended her influence into them; they would not hurt her friends. It exhausted her already fatigued mind and she had to clear her head with a shake before moving on. Still, a haze remained.

She continued to sprint over and around the junk in her path, hardly noticing it now. Leaping over a ravine between two broken star cruisers, she looked down as she soared through the air, wondering what it would feel like to let gravity take her into the darkness below. How much would it hurt to lie at the bottom, her body broken?

But her feet touched the rusted metal of the far side before the thought could complete itself and she drew in a breath, no longer able to smell the incredible stench.

She took no break as she ran up a narrow beam to clear the top of another cruiser, her own ship appearing as she crested the hill. Fumbling for a little remote in a pouch on her belt, Maia hit the button to lower the gangway and went charging up the platform before it was even halfway down. She hurdled over T3 who had been waiting patiently for her return and didn't wait to sit before activating the engines. The minutes it took them to warm felt like forever.

As soon as she could, Maia lifted her ship into the air and turned sharply, shooting back the way she had come, the _Hawk_ complaining around her.

"C'mon, baby," Maia muttered. "Don't die on my now."

The view was bleak as it stretched out before her but she didn't pay attention to it. She couldn't pay attention to it. The voices of Sith still echoed through her mind and she could see the shadow at the base of the Reaper where the army lay dead. It was too terrible to look at, too terrible to look away from, and her eyes searched the devastation for even the hint of movement.

It didn't come. Still, she searched.

If not for the Force, Maia would have missed her companions against the debris and almost did anyway, distracted as she was with her thoughts. Cursing, she circled back and landed with enough force to send a shudder through the very structure of the _Hawk_. She touched the comm in her ear. "Do you guys need any assistance?"

It was Mira who answered. "The boys seem to have things under control... Oh, watch out for his head, Atton..."

Maia closed her eyes, Mical's pain engulfing her, and it took more mental strength than she had to stand from the pilot's seat and go to meet them in the infirmary. She left the engines on.

"Atton," she said as soon as she saw him. Blood covered half his face and she couldn't tell if it was his or not. "Get us out of here."

She gestured towards the cockpit just before stepping in and taking Mical's shoulders from him. He turned a questioning glance on her as if asking if she would be okay and she just shook her head. She didn't know. Supporting Mical would be no problem. Her body felt stronger than ever before, every muscle crying to be used despite the hours of battle, the Force singing a symphony in her ear louder than it ever had before.

"Go," she said. "This place is wicked."

Atton nodded and began to back away down the corridor before turning fully and sprinting out of sight. Maia turned to Bao-Dur and gestured with her chin as they lifted Mical onto the small bed. His eyes remained closed. "How good are you with all this medical stuff?"

"Not very," he admitted.

"Yeah, same," she said as she looked around, sighing. They used their limited skills in field medicine to stabilize her Padawan, but the vast majority of his injuries weren't physical. He had scratches, burns, and bruises, yes, but none were life threatening and Maia exhausted herself completely trying to use the Force to heal him, though it was of little use. He was breathing and his heart was beating but he was still dying. She could feel him dying. Maia choked on a sob and told the others to leave her alone.

She wanted to hear him tell her it was okay.

She wanted to know that he would forgive her for giving in to that awful machine.

"Why did I let it give me your strength?" Maia asked of him as she collapsed to her knees next to his cot, holding his hand. "What am I becoming?" she said into his fingers.

Time went by. Maia didn't know how much.

At length, she heard Atton come back into the infirmary to check on her but she didn't turn immediately to look at him. Instead, she brushed a piece of untouched hair across Mical's filthy forehead and she remembered once more how his body hadn't burned under the lightning as it should have. It took his strength and gave it to her. It took the strength of those she didn't know she could train—Mira and Bao-Dur—and gave it to her. It killed all those Sith and destroyed a vast area of the planet and yet she, Atton, and Zeta had come out unscathed. Even Mira and Bao-Dur were little worse for wear, but Mical... Poor Mical.

She turned to look at Atton then, tears streaking her face and creating rivulets in the dirt and grime that caked her cheeks.

"Why?" she asked him. "How could I have done that to the people I love?"

_why..._

"You were trying to protect us," he said, not moving from where he had stopped in the threshold. "They would have killed you if you hadn't."

"My life doesn't matter." Maia turned back to Mical and kissed his knuckles.

Atton bristled even through the Force. "Your life matters, Maia. Besides that, they would have killed us all. You did exactly what you should have done."

"No," Maia said. "There had to be another way to stop them. I didn't have to steal their strength. It's what Sith do. I can't be Sith."

"You're no Sith, Maia," Atton said, finally walking to her. He knelt by her side and touched her cheek. She shied away with a jerk. "We'd have invested in a hell of a lot of morphine a long time ago if you were."

She wanted to smile but couldn't. Instead, she looked at him. It was little more than a glance out of the corner of her eye, but it was apparently enough. He reached out to envelope both hers and Mical's hands in his, slowly untangling the two.

"Let the kid sleep," he said, pulling her to her feet as he stood. She was reluctant to leave her Padawan and didn't move as Atton tried to lead her out of the infirmary. She just kept looking at Mical, intently watching the rise and fall of his chest. Atton caught her gaze. "He won't die the moment you leave."

"I know, but..."

"You need to rest just as much as he does," Atton said, putting an arm around her waist and leading her away. Maia went but strained her neck to watch Mical for as long as she possibly could. "You also smell like one of Zeta's dead banthas."

"Excuse me?"

"When she came off the ship for the first time... You weren't there, were you?"

She hardly looked at him. "No, I don't think I was."

"Anyway, I think a shower would do you good."

"I sort of got that."

Atton's smile was forced. Maia didn't even try. She just laid her head on his shoulder as they walked, her tears running into his ruined shirt. She wasn't aware of them, though, and hardly even noticed when Atton stopped outside of her cabin.

"Want any help?" he said, attempting another grin. It didn't come.

"I think I can wash myself, thanks." She straightened and tugged at the grime-caked hair that had fallen out of its restraint. "I might just shave it all off. It would be a hell of a lot easier than attempting to detangle it."

"Please don't," Atton said, touching what was left. "Though you're almost there already." Maia reached around her head. Their fingers met for the briefest of moments before Atton dropped his hand back to his side.

"That's part of the reason I'm thinking of just getting rid of it." She groped for the missing hair and found that most of her ponytail was gone, including the lashing that had held it in place. That one Sith's lightsaber had come far too close to slicing off the back of her head. A shiver ran down her spine. "That was a damn close call."

"I didn't see it," Atton said.

"I don't really remember it," Maia replied, looking away. "At least it'll be easier to take care of."

"Look at you, cracking jokes already."

Maia just looked at him as she backed into the darkened cabin.

"Are you sure you don't want help," Atton asked.

"I think I need to be by myself right now. Thanks for trying, though."

"It's why I'm here."

She smiled and waved her hand over the door release. The smile only held until the door closed, however, the room enveloping her in its darkness. But she reached for no light as she stared at the door, breathing in and out. In and out. Voices began to trickle in through the silence, louder now that she had nothing to distract her from them; voices of despair and voices of agony. Some screamed through her mind while others simply whispered and cried. It was a cacophony. It was worse than anything the dark side had ever offered.

"Danijela," she whispered to the door, wiping fingers over her uninjured eye. She had forgotten the woman in her years of exile, forcing all memories of her face and voice from her mind. Danijela had never really been a true friend. She had simply been another member of Revan's little coven and had followed Revan for the glory the older woman offered, not because she had ever actually believed in anything. Not like Maia had believed. That memory in the cave on Korriban had been a false one; Malak never had to convince Maia to join them in their fight. She had been placed there to inspire the young Jedi who wouldn't have come on their own, a pawn even then. Always a pawn. Always willing to do Revan's bidding.

But it didn't quell her desire to find her leader. If anything, it intensified it. Maybe, she thought as she turned from the door, she would go to Revan and gloat. She would show the older woman that she was stronger for the torture she had gone through, that she wasn't a child playing in her Master's closet like she had been during the wars. She would still help Revan, but she wouldn't grovel. She would never grovel, not like she had.

Her heart fluttered in anger, banishing the voices if only for a second or two. How could she have ever been so weak?

But Maia knew the answer before she finished asking the question of herself. Revan had an influence over people that made Maia's abilities pale in comparison. It had nothing to do with her height or the power of her build. It had nothing to do with the mask Revan had worn or the number of soldiers she had amassed. It was in her voice, a voice like silk. No one could say no to Revan and no one ever did.

Maia's hands shook as she pulled the rags of clothing from her body, not trying to remove them in the proper way as they fell from her frame. Her underclothes were stiff with grime and blood and were practically shellacked to her body as she stepped into the refresher, the overhead light flickering on the moment she crossed over the threshold. Putting a hand to her eyes, she squinted against the pain before forcing them open so she could inspect her body and the damage rendered. She had to know what harm today had caused, if only to her physical being. She already knew the damage her mind had suffered.

_why…_ they still cried.

She traced slowly the wound cut in her face, wincing at the heat of the inflamed skin. The eye it crossed was bloodied, too, and almost appeared to be Chiss, if not for the pupil and iris. Some of the blood leaked with her tears. Tilting her head to one side, her eyes found Kreia's six inch scar on her throat, hardly visible under the grime, before looking down to take in the bruises that covered most of her body, the smooth scar tissue of Danijela's wound on the left side of her torso. She laid a hand over it, wondering how she had survived. There were vital organs there, not just muscle and skin, organs that must have been obliterated by the heat of Destra's lightsaber. She could still feel the strange whistle of her artificial lung as she breathed.

She flexed the muscles, the newly formed tissue under her hand screaming in pain. The Force had saved her, but for what? Who was she to deserve so many chances at life when so many others were dead?

_No one._

The shaking in her hands spread to engulf her entire body and she wrapped her arms around herself as if to keep everything in one piece. She bit her chapped lower lip to stop the scream that was forming in her chest and closed her eyes, taking in a ragged, wretched breath. Backing up a step, and then another, she stopped only when she met the cool wall, leaning into it for support, sliding down it when her legs refused to hold her a second more.

Sobbing once, Maia allowed her body to fall to one side, the hard floor a pillow for her bloodied cheek. She sobbed again, her entire body wracked in the effort to remain sane against the voices that cried with her.

-/-

The ship was silent in their grief. Mical was alive, but none knew for how long and the days long jump to Dantooine seemed to stretch on for years. None were happy about returning to the Enclave, but each knew that it was the only place they could take their wounded comrade if they hoped to save his life. His injuries ran too deep for any medical doctor to heal.

Maia was lying on her side on top of the covers of her bunk. It had taken tremendous effort to remove herself from the refresher floor to clean Raxus Prime from her skin, but the chill of the _Hawk_ against her naked body had finally forced her into action, if only to prevent someone from finding her there some days later. She hadn't moved, however, since the night before when she had lain her sore body down and wasn't even sure if she had slept at all in that time. It sure felt like she had been staring at the same spot all night. Blinking once, she was only partially aware of the door to her cabin opening and closing again. Something moved in her peripheral. She didn't look that way.

"Have you been awake since yesterday?" Atton asked. He crossed the room to kneel by her bedside, his shoulder blocking her view of the wall. She blinked again.

"I don't know. Mical...?"

"He's doing the same. No worse than when you left him."

She rolled for the first time in hours to bury her face in her pillow. It was wet, which was strange. Maia didn't remember crying. "I think I've finally gone over the edge. I've been thinking about it all night. I killed people out of rage and anger and that...terrible machine..."

"No," Atton said firmly as he stroked her back. "You're as much of a Jedi as you've ever been, angel. I've broken enough to know. You're nothing like what they became. They can't feel remorse."

She took in a deep breath but didn't tell Atton to leave her alone as she had the others. They had come too soon and offered only kind words about how brave she had been. Atton would do none of that and she was grateful for it. She loved him for it.

Still, a sob rasped in her throat as her mind wandered back to the planet they had left behind.

She didn't cry, though, and couldn't have even if she wanted to, her eyes dry now of tears. At length, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Taking his hand in hers, she brought it to her lips and kissed the back of his fingers.

"I'm glad I let you out of that cell."

"You and me both." Atton cupped her cheek with his other hand. "I didn't think you would after that angel line."

"I almost didn't."

He chuckled and she allowed a smile to touch her lips.

"I don't know why I like you, Atton. You're everything I should hate." She stroked at his palm with her thumb, looking at his hand and scarred fingers. The tips held the strange tan of some spacers, the line of where he normally wore gloves obvious. She had never noticed it before.

"I didn't think Jedi were allowed to hate."

"They aren't and I think that might be their fault." She looked him straight in the eye for the first time since he had entered the room, entwining her fingers in his. "Well, one of them, at least."

"Hey, people aren't interesting unless they have a few faults, Maia."

"I guess that makes you one of the most interesting people in the galaxy, then." She smiled again, this one carrying to her eyes. Atton drew closer, only stopping when their noses brushed and they were speaking in whispers.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a very unkind person?" He kissed the wound that crossed her face, gently so as not to irritate the skin further. She leaned into it.

"I'm Jedi," she said softly, touching the back of his neck. "It's ingrained."

"I thought you said you were Sith."

"You're a jerk, Atton Rand," she replied, her breath brushing his cheek, her body arching slightly off the bed to be closer to his.

"I hate you," he whispered into her skin.

"I know," she said, finding his lips before they could go too far. She never made the first move, always forcing him to do it, so she couldn't help but smile against his mouth when he jumped. It was nice to surprise him, she thought. Usually she just felt awkward. And so, when he slid his hand behind her neck and submitted willingly to her advances, Maia felt her confidence grow.

It was true what she had told him back on Alderaan. Despite her age, she was practically new to this kind of attention. She had experimented some as an adolescent, but throughout the wars and then during her exile, she had stayed away from human contact, afraid to grow attached to someone she would more than likely lose. But then Atton had happened. He was more of an event than a person and she was sure his feelings were not because of the bonds she was able to inspire. He was too emotionally scarred to be so easily manipulated by the Force. Or so she let herself believe.

A gentle tug was all it took to get her sitting, another to get her jacket off. He moved his attentions from her lips to the base of her neck and she tilted her head back.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she said even as she ran a hand up his arm and touched the tattoo on his shoulder. Lucky number eight. Or infinity. She never asked, nor did she care. He had told her, however, of the tags he still wore under his shirt. They were a reminder from the days he had served under Revan. They represented all of the terrible things he had once agreed to do and all of the terrible things he had promised Maia he would never do again. She would run her fingers over their well-worn surfaces as they lay in bed together, her thumb brushing the name _Jaq_ and the short scratch that preceded it where Atton had once considered scratching the name out. She touched them now as she slid her hands under his shirt and over the hard lines of his body.

Atton paused, his hands around the narrow of her waist, his lips against her skin. "Why?"

"I don't know."

"You sure you want to do this right now?"

"Of course," she said. "But it's kind of a small ship filled with nosey people."

"That's never stopped you before." He grinned against her neck, kissing it, scraping his teeth against it to incite a shiver. She was always so predictable. "Besides, only Mira is nosey."

"And she shares this cabin." Maia pointed at the door. Atton didn't follow the line of her finger and kissed the scar that bisected her throat instead. "I thought you were mad at me."

"Do you really care?" Atton whispered.

"I really don't," she said to the ceiling as his lips left a trail of fire on her skin. He trailed fingers up her back and pulled off the knit cap she was wearing against the cold, the newly shortened curls falling in wild abandon around her face, each coming to a tight little coil that hardly reached her jaw. He pulled on one and watched it bounce back into place before taking a handful to lay her back on the bed. Maia gripped at his shoulders, her fingers digging so deep she could feel his heart beat.

_Maybe_, she thought as he worked, Atton would be able to keep her sane as she fell into the dark abyss of the Force.

-/-

_Elsewhere..._

High above a rotting world, a dreadnaught dropped out of hyperspace. It gleamed in the light of the distant star this system called its sun and slowly established an orbit near the planet's moon. No fighters streaked out of its bays, no guns warmed to attack. It simply sat there as if watching the clouds move over the twisted metal below.

Revan heard Lorne's footsteps as he approached but did not turn to look at him as one part of her mind screamed. A larger part, though, remained silent. She couldn't help it. He held a calm she could never manage and she wanted to know why. She wanted to know how he could influence her. How he could wipe her mind clean of all things.

"We've arrived," he said.

"_Mithra'hii_," she whispered in return. "You'll find us here, my little chickadee."


	25. Twenty Four

_A/N – I have no excuse and all I have are apologies. Especially since this is the end of Part One. I do hope to get working on Part Two more than I have. Pieces and parts of it were written before the creative juices got sucked dry by my job as an architect, but now that we are in the construction admin portion of the job, hopefully they will start flowing again. My apologies once again. The lyrics below are by Keane from their song "Perfect Symmetry"._

Chapter Twenty-Four

_What I do, that will be done to me…_

_Maybe you'll feel it too._

Winter had come to Dantooine's Khoonda Plains by the time the crew of the _Hawk_ arrived at the Enclave. It was the worst weather the planet had seen in decades, snow drifts piling up as high as the grand walls of the Jedi academy. Each night brought more snow and each day no relief from the chill, though the sun shined brightly. Only fools ventured out into the plains.

Within the walls of the Enclave, the Jedi managed to keep the courtyards clean of high drifts, though few spent their time in the cold. Older Knights made sure to keep the young students warm and close, the exterior doors locked to prevent stupidity and bravado in the adolescents. But they could not bar Maia no matter how hard they tried. She would leave each morning and return each evening, her cheeks red and cold bitten. No one knew where she went during the day and only Atton knew where she disappeared to at night.

In time, her companions grew angry with her. It was almost as if she was abandoning them in the strangest territory yet. Mira and Bao-Dur were being courted by the Order, though neither had agreed to accept the training and Atton was doing a good job of beating back the Jedi's advances. Nobody bothered Zeta, though most were curious about her academy and her training. She usually kept to herself and, like Maia, was hard to find during most hours of the day and night. None of the crew seemed to mind.

It was two weeks into their stay on the planet before life began to settle into some semblance of normalcy. Each was beginning to get used to the regular interval of day and night after so many months spent within the hull of their ship. It had been difficult at first to eat during designated meal hours and sleep when others slept as opposed to living by their own schedule, but the crew of the _Hawk_ slowly fell into the rhythm of the Jedi, even Maia. Eventually, she started to spend more time within the Enclave than outside of it but was still difficult to find even during the best of times. Nobody knew why.

She was sitting in one of the exterior courtyards when Atton found her one evening, knees pulled to her chest, face buried in her arms. Falling snow caught in the fine tangle of her hair and he wondered how long she had been sitting there. Did she know Mical was awake?

He approached slowly, not wanting to disturb her until he absolutely had to and she looked up as he wiped snow from the bench.

"I thought I might be happy here," she said quietly. "I've always considered Dantooine my home. I fought for her during the wars and cried for her during my exile. I never regretted leaving, but the Enclave was my safe haven during the nights I had nothing else and I would fill it with my friends. Raema would sit here with me when our Masters brought us home, Alek, Danijela, and Valen there." She pointed to the base of a nearby tree. "But all I see now are the ghosts of everyone who isn't here. They followed her into the dark."

Atton watched her, not turning to look at the tree. "Who'd they become?"

"Alek became Malak." Her lips twitched as she paused. "And I killed Danijela on Raxus Prime, but I don't know what happened to Valen. He left with her and never returned."

She continued to watch the tree and Atton wondered if she was seeing her old friends even now. A smile crossed her lips and something touched the back of his mind, some vague memory that wasn't his, something he wanted to suppress because of its connection to the Force. He gripped at the bench with one hand and gritted his teeth as it blossomed around him.

At length, though, he turned to see if there was actually something behind him that would capture her attention for so long, but all he saw was the tree, its branches reaching for the ground under the weight of ice. In its shadow where no snow could fall stood a single white lily untouched by the harsh winter around it.

"We don't have to stay here, you know," he said, turning back to her. "You and me, we can jet off and just leave everything behind. I'm good at hiding, Maia. I've spent an entire life doing it."

She didn't turn to look at him for a long time and when she did, she blinked and furrowed her brow, her eyes clearing. The only light in the courtyard came from a few lanterns. "I can't leave the Jedi, not with the galaxy in the state it's in."

"You don't have to be the hero."

"But I do, Atton. I'm spiraling and I have to pull myself out of the darkness. I don't know what will happen or where I'll land if I don't. I have to prove that I'm worthy of this title."

"To who? The three masters who managed to snub the rest of the galaxy well enough to escape the Purge while you were out there doing what they should have been doing?" Atton gestured towards the Council Chamber. "They should be showering you in praise, not criticizing you."

Maia frowned and appeared to be debating with herself. Atton touched her elbow, causing her to look him in the eye. It seemed to be enough to get her to talk. "Did I ever tell you that I was never formally recognized as a Knight? I was only halfway through my Trials when Raema persuaded me to leave." She brushed the snow out of her hair and pulled a thick woolen hood over her head, casting her face in shadow. "I thought no one would be willing to follow a Padawan into battle without her master, so I took the rank without their consent. Officially, I'm still a student."

"Don't tell me they're holding that bullcrap over your head." Atton said, a frown pulling at his face.

Maia just sighed before going on, "I honestly can't tell. All I know is that they won't let me leave the planet."

"How can they stop you?"

"They'll find a way," she said. "They always do."

She shrugged and rested her chin on her forearms, looking away from him as she did, but Atton wasn't going to accept it. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her across the bench so her legs fell over the side and she was forced to look at him.

"You don't have to listen to them. You know you don't. Hell, you've spent the last fourteen years of your life not listening to them and don't you even try to tell me that your exile was listening because I am sure as hell they didn't give a crap about you after you left. You did exactly what you wanted to do and went where you wanted to go because they no longer had the power to control you." He loosened his grip already sure he would leave bruises despite the thick fabric of her robe. "You don't have to do what they want you to do. You don't have to dress like they want you to. If it wasn't for you, they would still be watching the galaxy die from a safe distance, if not very, very dead."

"You don't think I know that?" she replied, her voice soft despite her words. It was haunting. "You don't think I've agonized over what my fate might be?"

She stood and paced across the platform, stopping only when she reached the stairs that would lead her away from him. Clutching her hands behind her back, she shook her head once, speaking to the ground.

"I've caused the deaths of so many people. But not only people, Atton, fellow Jedi. My hands are stained in their blood." Her fingers clenched as she said it, turning white. "Before the end, Revan had me killing Jedi whom she claimed had fallen to the dark side. She had me convinced that the only way to save them was to kill them and I followed her blindly. I was such a fool."

"You never told me that," Atton said, watching her. He wasn't sure exactly where she was going with all this, if her myriad of confessions meant something unpleasant, but he would allow her to continue until she was done, unhappy though he was. That little voice of reason that lived in the back of his head—the one that was usually right, that he tended to ignore—that little voice of reason was telling him to be careful. It was telling him that Zeta's assertion that he would find his bed empty one morning was going to come true sooner than he had planned. And so he let her speak, afraid that she might run if he stopped her to tell her that things were going to be okay when they both knew it was a lie. Maia hated being lied to after so many years of enduring it from the people she had loved and trusted most in her life.

"I've never told anyone," Maia went on. "I was so ashamed of myself for falling into her trap once I had the hindsight to know what she was asking of me. I made her conquest easy. I am the reason the galaxy burned under her desire to rule it all."

"How old were you when she asked you to kill your friends?"

That earned him a glare far colder than anything that surrounded them. But there was also a certain amount gratitude under the harsh look for not glossing over the topic or sugar-coating it like most others would have done.

"Twenty-one," she answered at length. "Practically a baby."

"I'm having a hard time picturing you as a baby," Atton said, squinting at her. Maia managed a short chuckle as she walked slowly back to him. "Are you sure you were a baby and that you didn't just pop into existence like you are now?"

She sat next to him once more and lifted her hands to hold his face, her fingers stroking into the hair at his temples, her eyes crinkling at the edges and showing her age, slight though the wrinkles were.

"Maybe one day I'll be able to give you an idea of what I looked like as a child," she said.

He pushed a curl across her forehead, tucking it behind one ear, wrapping his other arm around her waist and pulling her closer. She didn't let go of him. "Have you been holding out on the baby pictures, Maia?"

A smile touched her lips. "Not even one."

The courtyard was silent as the snowfall picked up. It caught in his hair and trickled freezing down his back, but he didn't pay attention to it for fear of breaking eye contact with the woman he held. He could feel her receding to some place only she knew despite her smile. And even when she stroked his cold cheek with her cold thumb, it was as if the touch came from some great distance away.

"You go before they find some way to convert you, Atton. I want you to have the choice that I never did," she said softly. "They convinced Mira and Bao this morning and I'm sure you'll be next. They're so desperate for new students that even your tricks won't keep them out for long. You've done so well with me and I know you can keep them at bay, too. I would choose Jedi every time if asked, but what they're offering isn't a life I would wish on anyone who didn't want it." She dropped her hands and leaned into him, burying her face in his neck. "And if they find out about this? They're looking to send me into permanent exile anyway and this would give them the reason they need. They're going to take the Force away again."

"Then leave. Forget about everyone else and save yourself just this once."

"I can't. I want to be Jedi. I want to comply." She looked at her hands. They still trembled. "I want so desperately to comply. They can save me," she whispered. "I have to stay until they can fix me."

"You don't need to be saved, Maia. Sweetheart. They're fools for not letting you do what you do best," he replied. "You have to see that. Don't let them guilt you out of being who you are. If you let them in, then you've become just like them and I won't allow that, not after everything you've put me through." He slid a hand under her hood and held the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair, his other arm wrapped tightly around her. "They don't care a lick about you, honey. They've made that clear from the start."

"But they're the fools who are going to rebuild the Order. I have to give them some concession."

"I thought the old witch said that was your job."

"No." She shook her head. "I was supposed to bring you all together, but my destiny is to leave. I'm not supposed to be a part of your future. You know that. I've _told_ you that." She continued looking at her hands, her voice so low he could barely hear her. "Atton, you're not supposed to be in my heart."

He was silent then. She had told them of her encounter with Kreia and of what the old Sith had told her. They all knew that she would leave known space to find Revan and this time it sounded more final, somehow. Atton didn't like it, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. Nor did he have the words. So, instead, he put his thumb under her chin and tilted her face to his.

"In that case, I'll make sure you remember me when you go." He kissed her then and smiled against her lips as she responded, her arms tightening around him. All of her fear about the Masters discovering them seemed to be forgotten and he vowed that he would tell her before she left, be it in months or in weeks. She had saved him from whatever destructive end he would have found on his own and he knew for the first time in his life that he would finally live up to the name he had given himself.

She didn't notice the cold wind or the melting snow that seeped into her boots. She didn't see the Enclave before her, blazing and alive in the middle of the long night, nor did she hear Zeta's approach. It was only when the other woman spoke that Maia turned from her study of the stars.

"Are you ready?" Zeta said, drawing up to Maia's side.

"I suppose I have little choice."

"No, Maiali, you have every choice. There is nothing mandating that you leave them tonight or that you leave them from this planet. You made that decision and if you choose to leave them later then I will wait until you're ready for my guidance." Zeta's eyes glowed in the moonless night. "I have all the time in the galaxy to give you."

Maia shook her head slowly. "I shouldn't leave Mical, not like this. Not again."

"Forget your friends and your Padawan," Zeta said. "They knew this day would come sooner or later. He will be safe here. Don't use them as excuses to not do what you must do. I know that you're ready for this. You know you're ready."

She glanced at Zeta, knowing that the younger woman was right. Maia was ready. She had done everything she needed to do to get to this point. Guilt still wracked her healing body, though, and Maia suspected that she would feel it for a long time to come.

"I never told them I would leave Dantooine alone," she went on to say, not knowing why, exactly. Another excuse to bide time she didn't really want. A clean break. That's how she had to do it. _No pussyfooting, _she told herself.

"Nor did you tell them they would go with you."

Maia sighed and looked down on the Enclave for the first time since leaving it. Everything she wanted was still asleep within those walls, ready to protect her at all cost. Everything she told herself that she needed was attached to her belt or already stowed in the ship. He was in her heart. That was enough.

"This is how she left me," Maia said quietly, "in the middle of the night some days after Malachor. I had just told her that I was going to turn myself in to the Council for judgment and that I felt…wrong, somehow. I didn't have words for it then." She shivered not from the cold. "I suppose losing the Force is sort of like having a phantom limb. You can still feel it even though you know it's not there and each time you look for it, you're surprised it's gone. I was blind, deaf, and weak. I held my lightsaber clumsy at best before giving it up entirely at my trial." Glancing at Zeta, she flexed her hands. "Do you think they'll ever forgive me?"

"Did you forgive Revan?"

"Yes."

"Then I believe they will in time."

"Not all of them." She flexed her fingers again, whispering, "And I need him to hate me enough to never want to see me again. I told him tonight that I couldn't leave, that I had to stay here and give in to the Masters. I told him that I couldn't leave with him. Leaving with you will break any love he has for me. I only hope it will be enough to save him from me."

Zeta looked at her and said nothing.

Taking in a deep breath, Maia nodded once. And then again. Running a hand as best she could through her hair and stomping at the snow in a slight shuffle, Maia gestured towards Khoonda with her chin. "Let's go find her."

Zeta smiled as she followed Maia down the snowy slope. "She will welcome you like a hero, Maiali. From what little I know, she loved you best before the end."

But Maia only swallowed and remained silent as they went to retrieve her ship. Vanity had been Revan's downfall and Maia wouldn't let it creep into the pit of her stomach where Kreia's anger and cruelty already lived amongst the voices of Sith. She could ignore them there and pretend they didn't exist. _There is no emotion_, she told herself with each step through the fallen snow. _There is no passion_.

There was only the Force.

_No_, she thought. _There is also life._


End file.
